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diff --git a/old/10962-8.txt b/old/10962-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c19b5f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10962-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5263 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Concerning Animals and Other Matters +by E.H. Aitken, (AKA Edward Hamilton) + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Concerning Animals and Other Matters + +Author: E.H. Aitken, (AKA Edward Hamilton) + +Release Date: February 6, 2004 [EBook #10962] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONCERNING ANIMALS *** + + + + +Produced by Garrett Alley and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + +[Illustration: Portrait of "EHA."] + +CONCERNING ANIMALS AND OTHER MATTERS + +BY E.H. AITKEN ("EHA") + +AUTHOR OF "FIVE WINDOWS OF THE SOUL," "TRIBES ON MY FRONTIER," ETC. + +WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR BY + +SURGEON-GENERAL W.B. BANNERMAN I.M.S., C.S.I. + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY J A. SHEPHERD AND A PORTRAIT + +LONDON + + +1914 + + + + +CONTENTS + + "EHA" + + I FEET AND HANDS + II BILLS OF BIRDS + III TAILS + IV NOSES + V EARS + VI TOMMY + VII THE BARN OWL + VIII DOMESTIC ANIMALS + IX SNAKES + X THE INDIAN SNAKE-CHARMER + XI CURES FOR SNAKE-BITE + XII THE COBRA BUNGALOW + XIII THE PANTHER I DID NOT SHOOT + XIV THE PURBHOO + XV THE COCONUT TREE + XVI THE BETEL NUT + XVII A HINDU FESTIVAL + XVIII INDIAN POVERTY + XIX BORROWED INDIAN WORDS + + + + +Special thanks are due to the Editors and Proprietors of the _Strand +Magazine, Pall Mall Magazine_ and _Times of India_ for their courtesy in +permitting the reprinting of the articles in this book which originally +appeared in their columns. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +HALF-TONES + + "EHA" + + THE NOSE OF THE ELEPHANT BECOMING A HAND HAS REDEEMED ITS MIND + + GOOD FOR ANY ROUGH JOB + + HERE THE COMPETITION HAS BEEN VERY KEEN INDEED + + THE RAT IS A NEAR RELATION OF THE SQUIRREL ZOOLOGICALLY + BUT PERSONALLY HE IS A GUTTER-SNIPE, AND + YOU MAY KNOW THAT BY ONE LOOK AT THE TAIL, WHICH + HE DRAGS AFTER HIM LIKE A DIRTY ROPE + + A BLACKBIRD AND A STARLING--THE ONE LIFTS ITS SKIRTS, + WHILE THE OTHER WEARS A WALKING DRESS + + THE NOSTRILS OF THE APTERYX ARE AT THE TIP OF ITS BEAK + + THE LONG-NOSED MONKEY + + +LINE BLOCKS + + AN AUTHENTIC STANDARD FOOT + + THESE BEASTS ARE ALL CLODHOPPERS, AND THEIR FEET + ARE HOBNAILED BOOTS + + IT HAS TO DOUBLE THEM UNDER AND HOBBLE ABOUT LIKE + A CHINESE LADY + + NO DOUBT EACH BIRD SWEARS BY ITS OWN PATTERN + + ITS BILL DESERVES STUDY + + AS WONDERFUL AS THE PELICAN, BUT HOW OPPOSITE! + + THERE ARE SOME ECCENTRICS, SUCH AS JENNY WREN, WHICH + HAVE DESPISED THEIR TAILS + + AT THE SIGHT OF A RIVAL THE DOG HOLDS ITS TAIL UP STIFFLY + + A SHREW CAN DO IT, BUT NOT A MAN + + A BOLD ATTEMPT TO GROW IN THE CASE OF A TAPIR + + I HAVE SEEN HUMAN NOSES OF A PATTERN NOT UNLIKE THIS, + BUT THEY ARE NOT CONSIDERED ARISTOCRATIC + + WHO CAN CONSIDER THAT NOSE SERIOUSLY? + + OR PERHAPS WHEN IT WANTS TO LISTEN IT RAISES A FLIPPER TO ITS EAR + + "TEAR OUT THE HOUSE LIKE THE DOGS WUZ ATTER HIM" + + A GREAT CATHOLIC CONGRESS OF DISTINGUISHED EARS + + THE CURLS OF A MOTHER'S DARLING + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +"EHA" + +Edward Hamilton Aitken, the author of the following sketches, was well +known to the present generation of Anglo-Indians, by his pen-name of +Eha, as an accurate and amusing writer on natural history subjects. +Those who were privileged to know him intimately, as the writer of this +sketch did, knew him as a Christian gentleman of singular simplicity and +modesty and great charm of manner. He was always ready to help a +fellow-worker in science or philanthropy if it were possible for him to +do so. Thus, indeed, began the friendship between us. For when plague +first invaded India in 1896, the writer was one of those sent to Bombay +to work at the problem of its causation from the scientific side, +thereby becoming interested in the life history of rats, which were +shown to be intimately connected with the spread of this dire disease. +Having for years admired Eha's books on natural history--_The Tribes on +my Frontier, An Indian Naturalist's Foreign Policy_, and _The +Naturalist on the Prowl_, I ventured to write to him on the subject of +rats and their habits, and asked him whether he could not throw some +light on the problem of plague and its spread, from the naturalist's +point of view. + +In response to this appeal he wrote a most informing and characteristic +article for _The Times of India_ (July 19, 1899), which threw a flood of +light on the subject of the habits and characteristics of the Indian rat +as found in town and country. He was the first to show that _Mus +rattus_, the old English black rat, which is the common house rat of +India outside the large seaports, has become, through centuries of +contact with the Indian people, a domestic animal like the cat in +Britain. When one realises the fact that this same rat is responsible +for the spread of plague in India, and that every house is full of them, +the value of this naturalist's observation is plain. Thus began an +intimacy which lasted till Eha's death in 1909. + +The first time I met Mr. Aitken was at a meeting of the Free Church of +Scotland Literary Society in 1899, when he read a paper on the early +experiences, of the English in Bombay. The minute he entered the room I +recognised him from the caricatures of himself in the _Tribes_. The +long, thin, erect, bearded man was unmistakable, with a typically Scots +face lit up with the humorous twinkle one came to know so well. Many a +time in after-years has that look been seen as he discoursed, as only he +could, on the ways of man and beast, bird or insect, as one tramped +with him through the jungles on the hills around Bombay during week-ends +spent with him at Vehar or elsewhere. He was an ideal companion on such +occasions, always at his best when acting the part of _The Naturalist on +the Prowl._ + +Mr. Aitken was born at Satara in the Bombay Presidency on August 16, +1851. His father was the Rev. James Aitken, missionary of the Free +Church of Scotland. His mother was a sister of the Rev. Daniel Edward, +missionary to the Jews at Breslau for some fifty years. He was educated +by his father in India, and one can well realise the sort of education +he got from such parents from the many allusions to the Bible and its +old Testament characters that one constantly finds used with such effect +in his books. His farther education was obtained at Bombay and Poona. He +passed M.A. and B.A. of Bombay University first on the list, and won the +Homejee Cursetjee prize with a poem in 1880. From 1870 to 1876 he was +Latin Reader in the Deccan College at Poona, which accounts for the +extensive acquaintance with the Latin classics so charmingly manifest in +his writings. That he was well grounded in Greek is also certain, for +the writer, while living in a chummery with him in Bombay in 1902, saw +him constantly reading the Greek Testament in the mornings without the +aid of a dictionary. + +He entered the Customs and Salt Department of the Government of Bombay +in April 1876, and served in Kharaghoda (the Dustypore of the _Tribes_), +Uran, North Kanara and Goa Frontier, Ratnagiri, and Bombay itself. In +May, 1903, he was appointed Chief Collector of Customs and Salt Revenue +at Karachi, and in November, 1905, was made Superintendent in charge of +the District Gazetteer of Sind. He retired from the service in August +1906. + +He married in 1883 the daughter of the Rev. J. Chalmers Blake, and left +a family of two sons and three daughters. + +In 1902 he was deputed, on special duty, to investigate the prevalence +of malaria at the Customs stations along the frontier of Goa, and to +devise means for removing the Salt Peons at these posts, from the +neighbourhood of the anopheles mosquito, by that time recognised as the +cause of the deadly malaria, which made service on that frontier dreaded +by all. + +It was during this expedition that he discovered a new species of +anopheline mosquito, which after identification by Major James, I.M.S., +was named after him _Anopheles aitkeni_. During his long service there +are to be found in the Annual Reports of the Customs Department frequent +mention of Mr. Aitken's good work, but it is doubtful whether the +Government ever fully realised what an able literary man they had in +their service, wasting his talent in the Salt Department. On two +occasions only did congenial work come to him in the course of his +public duty--namely, when he was sent to study, from the naturalist's +point of view, the malarial conditions prevailing on the frontier of +Goa; and when during the last two years of his service he was put in +literary charge of _The Sind Gazetteer_. In this book one can see the +light and graceful literary touch of Eha frequently cropping up amidst +the dry bones of public health and commercial statistics, and the book +is enlivened by innumerable witty and philosophic touches appearing in +the most unlikely places, such as he alone could enliven a dull subject +with. Would that all Government gazetteers were similarly adorned! But +there are not many "Ehas" in Government employ in India. + +On completion of this work he retired to Edinburgh, where most of the +sketches contained in this volume were written. He was very happy with +his family in his home at Morningside, and was beginning to surround +himself with pets and flowers, as was his wont all his life, and to get +a good connection with the home newspapers and magazines, when, alas! +death stepped in, and he died after a short illness on April 25, 1909. + +He was interested in the home birds and beasts as he had been with those +in India, and the last time the writer met him he was taking home some +gold-fish for his aquarium. A few days before his death he had found his +way down to the Morningside cemetery, where he had been enjoying the +sunshine and flowers of Spring, and he remarked to his wife that he +would often go there in future to watch the birds building their nests. + +Before that time came, he was himself laid to rest in that very spot in +sure and certain hope of a blessed resurrection. + +The above imperfect sketch fails to give the charm and magnetic +attraction of the man, and for this one must go to his works, which for +those who knew him are very illuminating in this respect. In them one +catches a glimpse of his plan for keeping young and cheerful in "the +land of regrets," for one of his charms was his youthfulness and +interest in life. He refused to be depressed by his lonely life. "I am +only an exile," he remarks, "endeavouring to work a successful existence +in Dustypore, and not to let my environment shape me as a pudding takes +the shape of its mould, but to make it tributary to my own happiness." +He therefore urges his readers to cultivate a hobby. + +"It is strange," he says, "that Europeans in India know so little, see +so little, care so little, about all the intense life that surrounds +them. The boy who was the most ardent of bug-hunters, or the most +enthusiastic of bird-nesters in England, where one shilling will buy +nearly all that is known, or can be known, about birds or butterflies, +maintains in this country, aided by Messrs. B. &. S., an unequal strife +with the insupportableness of an _ennui_-smitten life. Why, if he would +stir up for one day the embers of the old flame, he could not quench it +again with such a prairie of fuel around him. I am not speaking of +Bombay people, with their clubs and gymkhanas and other devices for +oiling the wheels of existence, but of the dreary up-country exile, +whose life is a blank, a moral Sahara, a catechism of the Nihilist +creed. What such a one needs is a hobby. Every hobby is good--a sign of +good and an influence for good. Any hobby will draw out the mind, but +the one I plead for touches the soul too, keeps the milk of human +kindness from souring, puts a gentle poetry into the prosiest life. That +all my own finer feelings have not long since withered in this land of +separation from 'old familiar faces,' I attribute partly to a pair of +rabbits. All rabbits are idiotic things, but these come in and sit up +meekly and beg a crust of bread, and even a perennial fare of village +_moorgee_ cannot induce me to issue the order for their execution and +conversion into pie. But if such considerations cannot lead, the +struggle for existence should drive a man in this country to learn the +ways of his border tribes. For no one, I take it, who reflects for an +instant will deny that a small mosquito, with black rings upon a white +ground, or a sparrow that has finally made up its mind to rear a family +in your ceiling, exercises an influence on your personal happiness far +beyond the Czar of the Russias. It is not a question of scientific +frontiers--the enemy invades us on all, sides. We are plundered, +insulted, phlebotomised under our own vine and fig-tree. We might make +head against the foe if we laid to heart the lesson our national history +in India teaches--namely, that the way to fight uncivilised enemies is +to encourage them to cut one another's throats, and then step in and +inherit the spoil. But we murder our friends, exterminate our allies, +and then groan under the oppression of the enemy. I might illustrate +this by the case of the meek and long-suffering musk-rat, by spiders or +ants, but these must wait another day." + +Again he says, "The 'poor dumb animals' can give each other a bit of +their minds like their betters, and to me their fierce and tender little +passions, their loves and hates, their envies and jealousies, and their +small vanities beget a sense of fellow-feeling which makes their +presence society. The touch of Nature which makes the whole world kin is +infirmity. A man without a weakness is insupportable company, and so is +a man who does not feel the heat. There is a large grey ring-dove that +sits in the blazing sun all through the hottest hours of the day, and +says coo-coo, coo, coo-coo, coo until the melancholy sweet monotony of +that sound is as thoroughly mixed up in my brain with 110° in the shade +as physic in my infantile memories with the peppermint lozenges which +used to 'put away the taste,' But as for these creatures, which confess +the heat and come into the house and gasp, I feel drawn to them. I +should like to offer them cooling drinks. Not that all my midday guests +are equally welcome: I could dispense, for instance, with the +grey-ringed bee which has just reconnoitred my ear for the third time, +and guesses it is a key-hole--she is away just now, but only, I fancy, +for clay to stop it up with. There are others also to which I would give +their _congé_ if they would take it. But good, bad, or indifferent they +give us their company whether we want it or not." + +Eha certainly found company in beasts all his life, and kept the charm +of youth about him in consequence to the end. If his lot were cast, as +it often was, in lonely places, he kept pets, and made friends besides +of many of the members of the tribes on his frontier; if in Bombay city +he consoled himself with his aquarium and the museum of the Bombay +Natural History Society. When the present writer chummed with him in a +flat on the Apollo Bunder in Bombay, he remembers well that aquarium and +the Sunday-morning expeditions to the malarious ravines at the back of +Malabar Hill to search for mosquito larvae to feed its inmates. For at +that time Mr. Aitken was investigating the capabilities for the +destruction of larvae, of a small surface-feeding fish with an +ivory-white spot on the top of its head, which he had found at Vehar in +the stream below the bund. It took him some time to identify these +particular fishes (_Haplochilus lineatus_), and in the meantime he +dubbed them "Scooties" from the lightning rapidity of their movements, +and in his own admirable manner made himself a sharer of their joys and +sorrows, their cares and interests. With these he stocked the ornamental +fountains of Bombay to keep them from becoming breeding-grounds for +mosquitoes, and they are now largely used throughout India for this very +purpose. It will be recognised, therefore, that Mr. Aitken studied +natural history not only for its own sake, but as a means of benefiting +the people of India, whom he had learned to love, as is so plainly shown +in _Behind the Bungalow_. + +He was an indefatigable worker in the museum of the Bombay Natural +History Society, which he helped to found, and many of his papers and +notes are preserved for us in the pages of its excellent _Journal_, of +which he was an original joint-editor. He was for long secretary of the +Insect Section, and then president. Before his retirement he was elected +one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society. + +Mr. Aitken was a deeply religious man, and was for some twenty years an +elder in the congregation of the United Free Church of Scotland in +Bombay. He was for some years Superintendent of the Sunday School in +connection with this congregation, and a member of the Committee of the +Bombay Scottish Orphanage and the Scottish High Schools. His former +minister says of him, "He was deeply interested in theology, and +remained wonderfully orthodox in spite of" (or, as the present writer +would prefer to say, _because of_) "his scientific knowledge. He always +thought that the evidence for the doctrine of evolution had been pressed +for more than it was worth, and he had many criticisms to make upon the +Higher Critics of the Bible. Many a discussion we had, in which, against +me, he took the conservative side." + +He lets one see very clearly into the workings of his mind in this +direction in what is perhaps the finest, although the least well known +of his books, _The Five Windows of the Soul_ (John Murray), in which he +discourses in his own inimitable way of the five senses, and how they +bring man and beast into contact with their surroundings. It is a book +on perceiving, and shows how according as this faculty is exercised it +makes each man such as he is. The following extract from the book shows +Mr. Aitken's style, and may perhaps induce some to go to the book itself +for more from the same source. He is speaking of the moral sense. "And +it is almost a truism to say that, if a man has any taste, it will show +itself in his dress and in his dwelling. No doubt, through indolence and +slovenly habits, a man may allow his surroundings to fall far below what +he is capable of approving; but every one who does so pays the penalty +in the gradual deterioration of his perceptions. + +"How many times more true is all this in the case of the moral sense? +When the heart is still young and tender, how spontaneously and sweetly +and urgently does every vision of goodness and nobleness in the conduct +of another awaken the impulse to go and do likewise! And if that impulse +is not obeyed, how certainly does the first approving perception of the +beauty of goodness become duller, until at last we may even come to hate +it where we find it, for its discordance with the 'motions of sins in +our members'! + +"But not less certainly will every earnest effort to bring the life into +unison with what we perceive to be right bring its own reward in a +clearer and more joyful perception of what is right, and a keener +sensitiveness to every discord in ourselves. How all such discord may be +removed, how the chords of the heart may be tuned and the life become +music,--these are questions of religion, which are quite beyond our +scope. But I take it that every religion which has prevailed among the +children of Adam is in itself an evidence that, however debased and +perverted the moral sense may have become, the painful consciousness +that his heart is 'like sweet bells jangled' still presses everywhere +and always on the spirit of man; and it is also a conscious or +unconscious admission that there is no blessedness for him until his +life shall march in step with the music of the 'Eternal Righteousness.'" + +Mr. Aitken's name will be kept green among Anglo-Indians by the +well-known series of books published by Messrs. Thacker & Co., of London +and Calcutta. They are _The Tribes on my Frontier, An Indian +Naturalist's Foreign Policy_, which was published in 1883, and of which +a seventh edition appeared in 1910. This book deals with the common +birds, beasts, and insects in and around an Indian bungalow, and it +should be put into the hands of every one whose lot is cast in India. It +will open their eyes to the beauty and interests of their surroundings +in a truly wonderful way, and may be read again and again with +increasing pleasure as one's experience of Indian life increases. + +This was followed in 1889 by _Behind the Bungalow_, which describes with +charming insight the strange manners and customs of our Indian domestic +servants. The witty and yet kindly way in which their excellencies and +defects are touched off is delightful, and many a harassed _mem-sahib_ +must bless Eha for showing her the humorous and human side of her life +surrounded as it is by those necessary but annoying inhabitants of the +Godowns behind the bungalow. A tenth edition of this book was published +in 1911. + +_The Naturalist on the Prowl_ was brought out in 1894, and a third +edition was published in 1905. It contains sketches on the same lines as +those in _The Tribes_, but deals more with the jungles, and not so much +with the immediate surroundings of the bungalow. The very smell of the +country is in these chapters, and will vividly recall memories to those +who know the country along the West Coast of India southward of Bombay. + +In 1900 was published _The Common Birds of Bombay_, which contains +descriptions of the ordinary birds one sees about the bungalow or in the +country. As is well said by the writer of the obituary notice in the +_Journal_ of the Bombay Natural History Society, Eha "had a special +genius for seizing the striking and characteristic points in the +appearance and behaviour of individual species and a happy knack of +translating them into print so as to render his descriptions +unmistakable. He looked upon all creatures in the proper way, as if each +had a soul and character of its own. He loved them all, and was +unwilling to hurt any of them." These characteristics are well shown in +this book, for one is able to recognise the birds easily from some +prominent feature described therein.[1] + +_The Five Windows of the Soul_, published by John Murray in 1898, is of +quite another character from the above, and was regarded by its author +with great affection as the best of his books. It is certainly a +wonderfully self-revealing book, and full of the most beautiful +thoughts. A second impression appeared in the following year, and a new +and cheaper edition has just been published. The portrait of Eha is +reproduced from one taken in 1902 in a flat on the Apollo Bunder, and +shows the man as he was in workaday life in Bombay. The humorous and +kindly look is, I think, well brought out, and will stir pleasant +memories in all who knew Mr. Aitken. + +W. B. B. + +MADRAS, _January_ 1914. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: The illustrations are his own work, but the blocks having +been produced in India, they do not do justice to the extreme delicacy +of workmanship and fine perception of detail which characterise the +originals, as all who have been privileged to see these will agree.] + + + + +CONCERNING ANIMALS + + + + +I + + +FEET AND HANDS + +It is evident that, in what is called the evolution of animal forms, the +foot came in suddenly when the backboned creatures began to live on the +dry land--that is, with the frogs. How it came in is a question which +still puzzles the phylogenists, who cannot find a sure pedigree for the +frog. There it is, anyhow, and the remarkable point about it is that the +foot of a frog is not a rudimentary thing, but an authentic standard +foot, like the yard measure kept in the Tower of London, of which all +other feet are copies or adaptations. This instrument, as part of the +original outfit given to the pioneers of the brainy, backboned, and +four-limbed races, when they were sent out to multiply and replenish the +earth, is surely worth considering well. It consists essentially of a +sole, or palm, made up of small bones and of _five_ separate digits, +each with several joints. + +[Illustration: AN AUTHENTIC STANDARD FOOT.] + +In the hind foot of a frog the toes are very long and webbed from point +to point. In this it differs a good deal from the toad, and there is +significance in the difference. The "heavy-gaited toad," satisfied with +sour ants, hard beetles, and such other fare as it can easily pick up, +and grown nasty in consequence, so that nothing seeks to eat it, has +hobbled through life, like a plethoric old gentleman, until the present +day, on its original feet. The more versatile and nimble-witted frog, +seeking better diet and greater security of life, went back to the +element in which it was bred, and, swimming much, became better fitted +for swimming. The soft elastic skin between the fingers or toes is just +the sort of tissue which responds most readily to inward impulses, and +we find that the very same change has come about in those birds and +beasts which live much in water. I know that this is not the accepted +theory of evolution, but I am waiting till it shall become so. We all +develop in the direction of our tendencies, and shall, I doubt not, be +wise enough some day to give animals leave to do the same. + +It seems strange that any creature, furnished with such tricky and +adaptable instruments to go about the world with, should tire of them +and wish to get rid of them, but so it happened at a very early stage. +It must have been a consequence, I think, of growing too fast. Mark +Twain remarked about a dachshund that it seemed to want another pair of +legs in the middle to prevent it sagging. Now, some lizards are so long +that they cannot keep from sagging, and their progress becomes a painful +wriggle. But if you must go by wriggling, then what is the use of legs +to knock against stems and stones? So some lizards have discarded two of +their legs and some all four. Zoologically they are not snakes, but +snakes are only a further advance in the same direction. That snakes did +not start fair without legs is clear, for the python has to this day two +tell-tale leg-bones buried in its flesh. + +When we pass from reptiles to birds, lo! an astounding thing has +happened. That there were flying reptiles in the fossil ages we know, +and there are flying beasts in our own. But the wings of these are +simple mechanical alterations, which the imagination of a child, or a +savage, could explain. + +The hands of a bat are hands still, and, though the fingers are hampered +by their awkward gloves, the thumbs are free. The giant fruit bats of +the tropics clamber about the trees quite acrobatically with their +thumbs and feet. + +That Apollyonic monster of the prime, the pterodactyl, did even better. +Stretching on each little finger a lateen sail that would have served to +waft a skiff across the Thames, it kept the rest of its hands for other +uses. But what bearing has all this on the case of birds? Here is a +whole sub-kingdom, as they call it, of the animal world which has +unreservedly and irrevocably bartered one pair of its limbs for a +flying-machine. The apparatus is made of feathers--a new invention, +unknown to amphibian or saurian, whence obtained nobody can say--and +these are grafted into the transformed frame of the old limbs. The +bargain was worth making, for the winged bird at once soared away in all +senses from the creeping things of earth, and became a more ethereal +being; "like a blown flame, it rests upon the air, subdues it, surpasses +it, outraces it; it is the air, conscious of itself, conquering itself, +ruling itself." But the price was heavy. The bird must get through life +with one pair of feet and its mouth. But this was all the bodily +furniture of Charles François Felu, who, without arms, became a famous +artist. + +A friend of mine, standing behind him in a _salon_ and watching him at +work, saw him lay down his brush and, raising his foot to his head, take +off his hat and scratch his crown with his great toe. My friend was +nearly hypnotised by the sight, yet it scarcely strikes us as a wonder +when a parrot, standing on one foot, takes its meals with the other. It +is a wonder, and stamps the parrot as a bird of talent. A mine of hidden +possibilities is in us all, but those who dig resolutely into it and +bring out treasure are few. + +And let us note that the art of standing began with birds. Frogs sit, +and, as far as I know, every reptile, be it lizard, crocodile, +alligator, or tortoise, lays its body on the ground when not actually +carrying it. And these have each four fat legs. Contrast the flamingo, +which, having only two, and those like willow wands, tucks up one of +them and sleeps poised high on the other, like a tulip on its stem. + +Note also that one toe has been altogether discarded by birds as +superfluous. The germ, or bud, must be there, for the Dorking fowl has +produced a fifth toe under some influence of the poultry-yard, but no +natural bird has more than four. Except in swifts, which never perch, +but cling to rocks and walls, one is turned backwards, and, by a cunning +contrivance, the act of bending the leg draws them all automatically +together. So a hen closes its toes at every step it takes, as if it +grasped something, and, of course, when it settles down on its roost, +they grasp that tight and hold it fast till morning. But to birds that +do not perch this mechanism is only an encumbrance, so many of them, +like the plovers, abolish the hind toe entirely, and the prince of all +two-legged runners, the ostrich, has got rid of one of the front toes +also, retaining only two. + +[Illustration: THESE BEASTS ARE ALL CLODHOPPERS, AND THEIR FEET ARE +HOBNAILED BOOTS.] + +To a man who thinks, it is very interesting to observe that beasts have +been led along gradually in the very same direction. All the common +beasts, such as cats, dogs, rats, stoats, and so on, have five ordinary +toes. On the hind feet there may be only four. But as soon as we come to +those that feed on grass and leaves, standing or walking all the while, +we find that the feet are shod with hoofs instead of being tipped with +claws. First the five toes, though clubbed together, have each a +separate hoof, as in the elephant; then the hippopotamus follows with +four toes, and the rhinoceros with practically three. These beasts are +all clodhoppers, and their feet are hobnailed boots. The more active +deer and all cattle keep only two toes for practical purposes, though +stumps of two more remain. Finally, the horse gathers all its foot into +one boot, and becomes the champion runner of the world. + +It is not without significance that this degeneracy of the feet goes +with a decline in the brain, whether as cause or effect I will not +pretend to know. These hoofed beasts have shallow natures and live +shallow lives. They eat what is spread by Nature before their noses, +have no homes, and do nothing but feed and fight with each other. The +elephant is a notable exception, but then the nose of the elephant, +becoming a hand, has redeemed its mind. As for the horse, whatever its +admirers may say, it is just a great ass. There is a lesson in all this: +"from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath." + +There is another dull beast which, from the point of view of the mere +systematist, seems as far removed from those that wear hoofs as it could +be, but the philosopher, considering the point at which it has arrived, +rather than the route by which it got there, will class it with them, +for its idea of life is just theirs turned topsy-turvy. The nails of the +sloth, instead of being hammered into hoofs on the hard ground, have +grown long and curved, like those of a caged bird, and become hooks by +which it can hang, without effort, in the midst of the leaves on which +it feeds. A minimum of intellect is required for such an existence, and +the sloth has lost any superfluous brain that it may have had, as well +as two, or even three, of its five toes. + +To return to those birds and beasts with standard feet, I find that the +first outside purpose for which they find them serviceable is to scratch +themselves. This is a universal need. But a foot is handy in many other +ways. A hen and chickens, getting into my garden, transferred a whole +flower-bed to the walk in half an hour. Yet a bird trying to do anything +with its foot is like a man putting on his socks standing, and birds as +a race have turned their feet to very little account outside of their +original purpose. Such a simple thing as holding down its food with one +foot scarcely occurs to an ordinary bird. A hen will pull about a +cabbage leaf and shake it in the hope that a small piece may come away, +but it never enters her head to put her foot on it. In this and other +matters the parrot stands apart, and also the hawk, eagle, and owl; but +these are not ordinary birds. + +Beasts, having twice as many feet as birds, have learned to apply them +to many uses. They dig with them, hold down their food with them, fondle +their children with them, paw their friends, and scratch their enemies. +One does more of one thing and another of another, and the feet soon +show the effects of the occupation, the claws first, then the muscles, +and even the bones dwindling by disuse, or waxing stout and strong. Then +the joy of doing what it can do well impels the beast further on the +same path, and its offspring after it. + +[Illustration: THE NOSE OF THE ELEPHANT BECOMING A HAND HAS REDEEMED +ITS MIND] + +And this leads at last to specialism. The Indian black bear is a "handy +man," like the British Tar--good all round. Its great soft paw is a very +serviceable tool and weapon, armed with claws which will take the face +off a man or grub up a root with equal ease. When a black bear has found +an ant-hill it takes but a few minutes to tear up the hard, cemented +clay and lay the deep galleries bare; then, putting its gutta-percha +muzzle to the mouth of each, it draws such a blast of air through them +that the industrious labourers are sucked into its gullet in drifts. +Afterwards it digs right down to the royal chamber, licks up the bloated +queen, and goes its way. + +But there is another worker in the same mine which does not go to work +this way. The ant-eater found fat termites so satisfying that it left +all other things and devoted its life to the exploiting of anthills, and +now it has no rival at that business, but it is fit for nothing else. +Its awkward digging tools will not allow it to put the sole of its foot +to the ground, so it has to double them under and hobble about like a +Chinese lady. It has no teeth, and stupidity is the most prominent +feature of its character. It has become that poor thing, a man of one +idea. + +But the bear is like a sign-post at a parting of the ways. If you +compare a brown bear with the black Indian, or sloth bear, as it is +sometimes called, you may detect a small but pregnant difference. When +the former walks, its claws are lifted, so that their points do not +touch the ground. Why? I have no information, but I know that it is not +content with a vegetarian diet, like its black relative, but hankers +after sheep and goats, and I guess that its murderous thoughts flow down +its nerves to those keen claws. It reminds me of a man clenching his +fist unconsciously when he thinks of the liar who has slandered him. + +[Illustration: IT HAS TO DOUBLE THEM UNDER AND HOBBLE ABOUT LIKE A +CHINESE LADY.] + +But what ages of concentration on the thought and practice of +assassination must have been required to perfect that most awful weapon +in Nature, the paw of a tiger, or, indeed, of any cat, for they are all +of one pattern. The sharpened flint of the savage has become the +scimitar of Saladin, keeping the keenness of its edge in a velvet sheath +and flashing out only on the field of battle. Compare that paw with the +foot of a dog, and you will, perhaps, see with me that the servility and +pliancy of the slave of man has usurped a place in his esteem which is +not its due. The cat is much the nobler animal. Dogs, with wolves, +jackals, and all of their kin, love to fall upon their victim in +overwhelming force, like a rascally mob, and bite, tear, and worry until +the life has gone out of it; the tiger, rushing single-handed, with a +fearful challenge, on the gigantic buffalo, grasps its nose with one paw +and its shoulder with the other, and has broken its massive neck in a +manner so dexterous and instantaneous that scarcely two sportsmen can +agree about how the thing is done. + +I have said that the foot first appeared when the backboned creatures +came out of the waters to live upon the dry land. But all mundane things +(not excepting politics) tend to move in circles, ending where they +began; and so the foot, if we follow it far enough, will take us back +into water. See how the rat--I mean our common, omnivorous, scavenging, +thieving, poaching brown rat--when it lives near a pond or stream, +learns to swim and dive as naturally as a duck. Next comes the vole, or +water-rat, which will not live away from water. Then there are water +shrews, the beaver, otter, duck-billed platypus, and a host of others, +not related, just as, among birds, there are water ousels, moorhens, +ducks, divers, etc., which have permanently made the water their home +and seek their living in it. All these have attained to web-footedness +in a greater or less degree. + +That this has occurred among reptiles, beasts, and birds alike shows +what an easy, or natural, or obvious (put it as you will) modification +it is. And it has a consequence not to be escaped. Just as a man who +rides a great deal and never walks acquires a certain indirectness of +the legs, and you never mistake a jockey for a drill-sergeant, so the +web-footed beasts are not among the things that are "comely in going." + +Following this road you arrive at the seal and sea-lion. Of all the feet +that I have looked at I know only one more utterly ridiculous than the +twisted flipper on which the sea-lion props his great bulk in front, +and that is the forked fly-flap which extends from the hinder parts of +the same. How can it be worth any beast's while to carry such an absurd +apparatus with it just for the sake of getting out into the air +sometimes and pushing itself about on the ice and being eaten by Polar +bears? The porpoise has discarded one pair, turned the other into decent +fins, and recovered a grace and power of motion in water which are not +equalled by the greyhound on land. Why have the seals hung back? I +believe I know the secret. It is the baby! No one knows where the +porpoise and the whale cradle their newborn infants--it is so difficult +to pry into the domestic ways of these sea-people--but evidently the +seals cannot manage it, so they are forced to return to the land when +the cares of maternity are on them. + +I have called the feet of these sea beasts ridiculous things, and so +they are as we see them; but strip off the skin, and lo! there appears a +plain foot, with its five digits, each of several joints, tipped with +claws--nowise essentially different, in short, from that with which the +toad, or frog, first set out in a past too distant for our infirm +imagination. Admiration itself is paralysed by a contrivance so simple, +so transmutable, and so sufficient for every need that time and change +could bring. + +There remains yet one transformation which seems simple compared with +some that I have noticed, but is more full of fate than they all; for +by it the foot becomes a hand. This comes about by easy stages. The +reason why one of a bird's four toes is turned back is quite plain: +trees are the proper home of birds, and they require feet that will +grasp branches. So those beasts also that have taken to living in trees +have got one toe detached more or less from the rest and arranged so +that it can co-operate with them to catch hold of a thing. Then other +changes quickly follow. For, in judging whether you have got hold of a +thing and how much force you must put forth to keep hold of it, you are +guided entirely by the pressure on the finger-points, and to gauge this +pressure nicely the nerves must be refined and educated. In fact, the +exercise itself, with the intent direction of the mind to the +finger-points, brings about the refinement and education in accordance +with Sandow's principle of muscle culture. + +For an example of the result do not look at the gross paw of any +so-called anthropoid ape, gorilla, orang-outang, or chimpanzee, but +study the gentle lemur. At the point of each digit is a broad elastic +pad, plentifully supplied with delicate nerves, and the vital energy +which has been directed into them appears to have been withdrawn from +the growth of the claws, which have shrunk into fine nails just +shielding the fleshy tips. In short, the lemur has a hand on each of its +four limbs, and no feet at all. And as it goes about its cage--I am at +the Zoo in spirit--with a silent wonder shining out of its great eyes, +it examines things by _feeling_ them with its hands. + +How plainly a new avenue from the outer world into its mind has been +opened by those fingers! But how about scratching? What would be the +gain of having higher susceptibilities and keener perceptions if they +only aggravated the triumph of the insulting flea? Nay, this disaster +has been averted by reserving a good sharp claw on the forefinger (not +the thumb) of each hind hand. + +The old naturalists called the apes and lemurs Quadrumana, the +"four-handed," and separated the Bimana, with one species--namely, _Homo +sapiens_. Now we have anatomy cited to belittle the difference between a +hand and a foot, and geology importuned to show us the missing link, +pending which an order has been instituted roomy enough to hold monkeys, +gorillas, and men. It is a strange perversity. How much more fitting it +were to bow in reverent ignorance before the perfect hand, taken up from +the ground, no more to dull its percipient surfaces on earth and stones +and bark, but to minister to its lord's expanding mind and obey his +creative will, while his frame stands upright and firm upon a single +pair of true feet, with their toes all in one rank. + + + + +II + + +BILLS OF BIRDS + +The prospectus, or advertisement, of a certain American typewriting +machine commences by informing the public that "The ---- typewriter is +founded on an idea." When I saw this phrase I secured it for my +collection, for I felt that, without jest, it contained the kernel of a +true philosophy of Nature. The forms, the _phainomena_, of Nature are +innumerable, multifarious, interwoven, and infinitely perplexing, and +you may spend a happy life in unravelling their relations and devising +their evolutions; but until you have looked through them and seen the +ideas that are behind them you are a mere materialist and a blind +worker. The soul of Nature is hid from you. + +What is the bill of a bird and what does it mean? I do not refer to the +bill of a hawk, or a heron, or an owl, or an ostrich, but to that which +is the abstract of all these and a thousand more. I hold, regardless of +anatomy and physiology, that a bird is a higher being than a beast. No +beast soars and sings to its sweetheart; no beast remains in lifelong +partnership with the wife of its youth; no beast builds itself a +summer-house and decks it with feathers and bright shells. A beast is a +grovelling denizen of the earth; a bird is a free citizen of the air. +And who can say that there is not a connection between this difference +and other developments? The beast, thinking only of its appetites, has +evolved a delicate nose, a discriminating palate, three kinds of teeth +to cut, tear, and grind its food, salivary glands to moisten the same, +and a perfected apparatus of digestion. + +[Illustration: GOOD FOR ANY ROUGH JOB] + +The bird, occupied with thoughts of love and beauty, with "fields, or +waves, or mountains" and "shapes of sky or plain," has made little +advance in the art and instruments of good living. It swallows its food +whole, scarcely knowing the taste of it, and a pair of forceps for +picking it up, tipped and cased with horn, is the whole of its dining +furniture. For the bill of a bird, primarily and essentially, is that +and nothing else. In the chickens and the sparrows that come to steal +their food, and the robin that looks on, and all the little dicky-birds, +you may see it in its simplicity. The size and shape may vary, as a +Canadian axe differs from a Scotch axe; some are short and stout and +have a sharp edge for shelling seeds; some are longer and fine-pointed, +for picking worms and caterpillars out of their hiding-places; some a +little hooked at their points, and one, that of the crossbill, with +points crossed for picking the small seeds out of fir-cones; but all +are practically the same tool. Yet the last distinctly points the way to +those modifications by which the simple bill is gradually adapted to one +special purpose or another, until it becomes a wonderful mechanism in +which the original intention is quite out of sight. + +At this point I find an instructive parable in my tool chest. Fully half +of the tools are just knives. A chisel is a knife, a plane is a knife +set in a block of wood, a saw is a knife with the edge notched. +Moreover, there are many sorts of curious planes and saws, each intended +for one distinct kind of fine work. All these the joiner has need of, +but a schoolboy would rather have one good, strong pocket-knife than the +whole boxful. For, just in proportion as each tool is perfected for its +own special work, it becomes useless for any other. And your schoolboy +is not a specialist. He wants a tool that will cut a stick, carve a +boat, peel an apple, dig out a worm--in short, one that will do whatever +his active mind wants done. + +Now apply this parable to the birds. If you see a bill that is nothing +but a large and powerful pair of forceps, good for any rough job, you +may know without further inquiry that the owner is no limited +specialist, but a "handy man," bold, enterprising, resourceful, and good +all round. He will not starve in the desert. No wholesome food comes +amiss to him--grub, slug, or snail, fruit, eggs, a live mouse or a dead +rat, and he can deal with them all. Such are the magpie, the crow, the +jackdaw, and all of that ilk; and these are the birds that are found in +all countries and climates, and prosper wherever they go. + +[Illustration: NO DOUBT EACH BIRD SWEARS BY ITS OWN PATTERN.] + +But all birds cannot play that part. One is timid, another fastidious, +another shy but ingenious. So, in the universal competition for a +living, each has taken its own line according to the bent of its nature, +and its one tool has been perfected for its trade until it can follow no +other. The thrush catches such worms as rashly show themselves +above-ground; but an ancient ancestor of the snipe found that, if it +followed them into marshy lands, it could probe the soft ground and drag +them out of their chambers. For this operation it has now a bill three +inches long, straight, thin and sensitive at the tip, a beautiful +instrument, but good for no purpose except extracting worms from soft +ground. If frost or drought hardens the ground, the snipe must starve or +travel. Among the many "lang nebbit" birds that follow the same +profession as the snipe, some, like the curlew and the ibis, have curved +bills of prodigious length. I do not know the comparative advantages of +the two forms, but no doubt each bird swears by its own pattern, as +every golfer does by his own putter. + +But now behold another grub-hunter, which, distasting mud, has +discovered an unworked mine in the trunks of trees. There, in deep +burrows, lurked great succulent beetle-grubs, demanding only a tool with +which they might be dug out. This has been perfected by many stages, and +I have now before me a splendid specimen of the most improved +pattern--namely, the bill of the great black woodpecker of Western +India, a bird nearly as big as a crow. It is nothing else than a hatchet +in two parts, which, when locked together, present a steeled edge about +three-eighths of an inch in breadth. The hatchet is two and a half +inches long by one in breadth at the base, and a prominent ridge, or +keel, runs down the top from base to point. It is further strengthened +by a keel on each side. Inside of it, ere the bird became a mummy, was +her tongue, which I myself drew out three inches beyond the point of the +bill. It was rough and tough, like gutta-percha, tipped with a fine +spike, and armed on each side, for the last inch of its length, with a +row of sharp barbs pointing backwards. The whole was lubricated with +some patent stickfast, "always ready for use." That grub must sit tight +indeed which this corkscrew will not draw when once the hatchet has +opened a way. + +The swallows and swifts, untirable on their wings, but too gentle to +hold their own in a jostling crowd, soared away after the midges and +May-flies and pestilent gnats that rise from marsh and pond to hold +their joyous dances under the blue dome. Continually rushing +open-mouthed after these, they have stretched their gape from ear to +ear; but their bills have dwindled by disuse and left only an apology +for their absence. + +Compared with all these, the birds that can do with a diet of fruit only +lead an easy life. They have just to pluck and eat--that is, if they are +pleased with small fruits and content to swallow them whole. But the +hornbills, being too bulky to hop among twigs, need a long reach; hence +the portentous machines which they carry on their faces. The beak of a +hornbill is nothing else than a pair of tongs long enough to reach and +strong enough to wrench off a wild fig from its thick stem. If it were +of iron it would be thin and heavy; being of cellular horn-stuff it is +bulky but light. If you ask why it should rise up into an absurd helmet +on the queer fowl's head, I cannot tell. Nature has quaint ways of using +up surplus material. + +[Illustration: ITS BILL DESERVES STUDY] + +An easy life begets luxury, and among fruit-eaters the parrot has become +an epicure. It will not swallow its food whole, and its bill deserves +study. In birds generally the upper mandible is more or less joined to +the skull, leaving only the lower jaw free to move. But in the parrot +the upper mandible is also hinged, so that each plays freely on the +other. The upper, as we all know, is hooked and pointed; the lower has a +sharp edge. The tongue is thick, muscular, and sensitive. The whole +makes a wonderful instrument, unique among birds, for feelingly +manipulating a dainty morsel, shelling, peeling, and slicing, until +nothing is left but the sweetest part of the core. Of all gourmands +Polly is the most shameless waster. + +Long before land, trees, and air had been exploited the primitive bird +must have discovered the harvest of the waters, and here the competition +has been very keen indeed. Yet the form of bill most in use is very +simple--just a plain pair of forceps, long and sharp-pointed like +scissors. This is evidently hard to beat, for birds of many sorts use +it, handling it variously. The kingfisher plumps bodily down on the +minnow from an overhanging perch; the solan goose, soaring, plunges from +a "pernicious height"; the heron, high on its stilts, darts out a long +and serpentine neck; the diver, with similar beak and neck, but +different legs, pursues the fleeing shoals under water; to the swift and +slippery fish all are alike terrible in their certainty. + +There are, however, other varieties of the fishing bill. Some have a +hook at the point, as that of the cormorant, and some are straight at +the top, but curved on the under side. This last form is handy for +storks, which do not pluck fish out of water so much, but scoop up +frogs, crabs, and reptiles from the ground. The ridiculous bill of the +puffin, or sea-parrot, is an eccentricity. There may be some idea in it, +but I suspect it is an effect of vanity merely, being coloured blue, +yellow, and red, and quite in keeping with the other absurdities of the +wearer. + +Apart from all these and by itself stands a princely fisher whose bill +is no modification, but an original invention and a marvellous one. +Larger than a swan and gluttonous withal, the pelican cannot live on +single fishes. It has given up angling altogether and taken to netting; +and the way in which the net has been constructed out of the pair of +forceps provided in the original plan of its construction is as well +worth your examining as anything I know. It is a foot in length, the +upper jaw is flat and broad, while the lower consists of two thin, +elastic bones joined at the point, a mere ring to carry the curious +yellow bag that hangs from it. In pictures this is represented as a +creel in which the kind pelican carries home the children's breakfast; +you are allowed to see the tail of a big fish hanging out. But it is not +a creel; it is a net. The great birds, marshalled in line on some broad +lake or marsh, and beating the water with their wings, drive the fish +before them until they have got a dense crowd huddled in panic and +confusion between them and the shore. Now watch them narrowly. As +each monstrous bill opens, the thin bones of the lower jaw stretch +sideways to the breadth of a span by some curious mechanism not +described in the books, and at the same time the shrunken bag expands +into a deep, capacious net. Simultaneously the whole instrument is +plunged into the struggling, silvery mass and comes up full. The side +bones instantly contract again, and the upper jaw is clapped on them +like a lid. No wonder the fishermen of the East detest the pelican. + +[Illustration: HERE THE COMPETITION HAS BEEN VERY KEEN INDEED.] + +[Illustration: AS WONDERFUL AS THE PELICAN, BUT HOW OPPOSITE!] + +In the same marsh, perhaps, standing with unequalled grace upon the +longest legs known in this world, is a troop of giant birds as wonderful +as the pelican, but how opposite! The beautiful flamingo is a bird of +feeble intellect, delicate appetite, and genteel tastes. It cannot eat +fish, for its slender throat would scarcely admit a pea. Besides, the +idea of catching anything, or even picking up food from the ground, does +not occur to its simple mind. Its diet consists of certain small +crustaceans, classed by naturalists with water-fleas, which abound in +brackish water; and it has an instrument for taking these which it knows +how to use. I kept flamingos once, and, after trying many things in +vain, offered them bran, or boiled rice, floating in water. Then they +dined, and I learned the construction and working of the most marvellous +of all bills. The lower jaw is deep and hollow, and its upper edges turn +in to meet each other, so that you may fairly describe it as a pipe +with a narrow slit along the upper side. In this pipe lies the tongue, +and it cannot get out, for it is wider than the slit, but it can be +pressed against the top to close the slit, and then the lower jaw +becomes an actual pipe. The root of the tongue is furnished on both +sides with a loose fringe which we will call the first strainer. The +upper jaw is thin and flat and rests on the lower like a lid, and it is +beautifully fringed along both sides with small, leathery points, close +set, like the teeth of a very fine saw. This is the second strainer. To +work the machine you dip the point into dirty water full of water-fleas, +draw back the tip of the tongue a little, and suck in water till the +lower jaw (the pipe) is full, then close the point again with the tip of +the tongue and force the water out. It can only get out by passing +through the first strainers at the root of the tongue, then over the +palate, and so through the second strainers at the sides of the bill; +and all the solid matter it contained will remain in the mouth. The +sucking in and squirting out of the water is managed by the cheeks, or +rather by the cheek, for a flamingo has only one cheek, and that is +situated under the chin. When the bird is feeding you will see this +throbbing faster than the eye can follow it, while water squirts from +the sides of the mouth in a continuous stream. I should have said that +the whole bill is sharply bent downwards at the middle. The advantage of +this is that when the bird lets down its head into the water, like a +bucket into a well, the point of the bill does not stick in the mud, but +lies flat on it, upside down. + +In conclusion, let us not fail to note, whatever be our political creed, +that, while all the birds pursue their respective industries, there sit +apart, in pride of place, some whose bills are not tools wherewith to +work, but weapons wherewith to slay. And these take tribute of the rest, +not with their consent, but of right. + + + + +III + + +TAILS + +The secrets of Nature often play like an iridescence on the surface, and +escape the eye of her worshipper because it is stopped with a +microscope. There are mysteries all about us as omnipresent as the +movement of the air that lifts the smoke and stirs the leaves, which I +cannot find that any philosopher has looked into. Often and deeply have +I been impressed with this. For example, there is scarcely, in this +world, a commoner or a humbler thing than a tail, yet how multifarious +is it in aspect, in construction, and in function, a hundred different +things and yet one. Some are of feathers and some of hair, and some bare +and skinny; some are long and some are short, some stick up and some +hang down, some wag for ever and some are still; the uses that they +serve cannot be numbered, but one name covers them all. In the course of +evolution they came in with the fishes and went out with man. What was +their purpose and mission? What place have they filled in the scheme of +things? In short, what is the true inwardness of a tail? + +If we try to commence--as scientific method requires--with a +definition, we stumble on a key, at the very threshold, which opens the +door. For there is no definition of a tail; it is not, in its nature, +anything at all. When an animal's fore-legs are fitted on to its +backbone at the proper distance from the hind-legs, if any of the +backbone remains over, we call it a tail. But it has no purpose; it is a +mere surplus, which a tailor (the pun is unavoidable) would have trimmed +off. And, lo! in this very negativeness lies the whole secret of the +multifarious positiveness of tails. For the absence of special purpose +is the chance of general usefulness. The ear must fulfil its purpose or +fail entirely, for it can do nothing else. Eyes, nose and mouth, hands +and feet, all have their duties; the tail is the unemployed. And if we +allow that life has had any hand in the shaping of its own destiny, then +the ingenuity of the devices for turning the useless member to account +affords one of the most exhilarating subjects of contemplation in the +whole panorama of Nature. The fishes fitted it up at once as a +twin-propeller, with results so satisfactory that the whale and the +porpoise, coming long after, adopted the invention. And be it noted that +these last and their kin are now the only ocean-going mammals in the +world. The whole tribe of paddle-steamers, such as seals and walruses +and dugongs, are only coasters. + +Among those beasts that would live on the dry land, the primitive +kangaroo could think of nothing better to do with his tail than to make +a stool of it. It was a simple thought, but a happy one. Sitting up +like a gentleman, he has his hands free to scratch his ribs or twitch +his moustache. And when he goes he needs not to put them to the ground, +for his great tail so nearly equals the weight of his body that one pair +of legs keeps the balance even. And so the kangaroo, almost the lowest +of beasts, comes closer to man in his postures than any other. The +squirrel also sits up and uses his forepaws for hands, but the squirrel +is a sybarite who lies abed in cold weather, and it is every way +characteristic of him that he has sent his tail to the furrier and had +it done up into a boa, or comforter, at once warm and becoming. See, +too, how daintily he lifts it over his back to keep it clean. The rat is +a near relation of the squirrel zoologically, but personally he is a +gutter-snipe, and you may know that by one look at the tail which he +drags after him like a dirty rope. Others of the same family, cleaner, +though not more ingenious, like the guinea-pig, have simply dispensed +with the encumbrance; but the rabbit has kept enough to make a white +cockade, which it hoists when bolting from danger. This is for the +guidance of the youngsters. Nearly every kind of deer and antelope +carries the same signal, with which, when fleeing through dusky woods, +the leader shows the way to the herd and the doe to her fawn. + +But of beasts that graze and browse, a large number have turned their +tails rather to a use which throws a pathetic light on misery of which +we have little experience. We do, indeed, growl at the gnats of a summer +evening and think ourselves very ill-used. How little do we know or +think of the unintermitted and unabated torment that the most harmless +classes of beasts suffer from the bands of beggars which follow them +night and day, demanding blood, and will take no refusal. Driven from +the brow they settle on the neck, shaken from the neck they dive between +the legs, and but for that far-reaching whisk at the end of the tail, +they would found a permanent colony on the flanks and defy ejection, +like the raiders of Vatersay. Darwin argues that the tail-brush may have +materially helped to secure the survival of those species of beasts that +possessed it, and no doubt he is right. + +The subject is interminable, but we must give a passing glance to some +quixotic tails. The opossum scampers up a tree, carrying all her +numerous family on her back, and they do not fall off because each +infant is securely moored by its own tail to the uplifted tail of its +mother. The opossum is a very primitive beast, and so early and useful +an invention should, one would think, have been spread widely in after +time; but there appears to be some difficulty in developing muscles at +the thin end of a long tail, for the animals that have turned it into a +grasping organ are few and are widely scattered. Examples are the +chameleon among lizards, our own little harvest mouse, and, pre-eminent +above all, the American monkeys. To a howler, or spider-monkey, its +long tail is a swing and a trapeze in its forest gymnasium. Humboldt saw +(he says it) a cluster of them all hanging from a tree by one tail, +which proceeded from a Sandow in the middle. I should like to see that +too. It is worth noting, by the way, that no old-world monkey has +attained to this application of its tail. + +Then there is the beaver, whose tail I am convinced is a trowel. I know +of no naturalist who has mentioned this, but such negative evidence is +of little weight. The beaver, as everybody knows, is a builder, who cuts +down trees and piles log upon log until he has raised a solid, domed +cabin from seven to twenty feet in diameter, which he then plasters over +with clay and straw. If he does not turn round and beat the work smooth +with his tail, then I require to know for what purpose he carries that +broad, heavy, and hard tool behind him. + +How few even among lovers of Nature know why a frog has no tail! The +reason-is simply that it used that organ up when it was in want. In +early life, as a jolly tadpole, it had a flourishing tail to swim with, +and gills for breathing water, and an infantile mouth for taking +vegetable nourishment. But when it began to draw near to frog's estate, +serious changes were required in its structure to fit it for the life of +a land animal. Four tiny legs appeared from under its skin, the gills +gave place to air-breathing lungs, and the infant lips to a great, +gaping mouth. Now, during this "temporary alteration of the premises" +all business was of necessity stopped. The half-fish, half-frog could +neither sup like an infant nor eat like a man. In this extremity it fed +on its own tail--absorbed it as a camel is said to absorb its hump when +travelling in the foodless desert--and so it entered on its new life +without one. + +Aeronautics have changed the whole perspective of life for birds, as +they may for us shortly; so it is no surprise to find that birds have, +almost with one consent, converted their tails into steering-gear. A +commonplace bird, like a sparrow, scarcely requires this except as a +brake when in the act of alighting; but to those birds with which flight +is an art and an accomplishment, an expansive forked or rounded tail +(there are two patents) is indispensable. We have shot almost all the +birds of this sort in our own country, and must travel if we would enjoy +that enchanting sight--a pair of eagles or a party of kites gone aloft +for a sail when the wind is rising, like skaters to a pond when the ice +is bearing. For an hour on end, in restful ease or swift joy, they trace +ever-varying circles and spirals against the dark storm-cloud, now +rising, now falling, turning and reversing, but never once flapping +their widespread pinions. + +How is it done? How does the _Shamrock_ sail? Watch, and you will see. +When the wind is behind, each stiff quill at the end of the wing stands +out by itself and is caught and driven by the blast; but as the bird +turns round to face the gale, they all close up and form a continuous +mainsail, close-hauled. And all the while the expanded tail is in play, +dipping first at one side and then at the other, and turning the trim +craft with easy grace "as the governor listeth." + +[Illustration: THERE ARE SOME ECCENTRICS, SUCH AS JENNY WREN, WHICH HAVE +DESPISED THEIR TAILS.] + +Besides ground birds, like the quail, there are some eccentrics, such as +Jenny wren, which have despised their tails, and there are specialists +also which require them for other purposes than flying. The woodpecker's +tail is quite useless as a rudder, for he is a woodman and has altered +and adapted it for a portable stool to rest against as he plies his axe. + +But that man must be very blind to the place which birds have taken in +the progress of civilisation who can suppose it possible that they +should think only of utility in such a question as the disposal of their +tails. It is a common notion among those who have acquired some +smattering of the theory of evolution that fishes developed into +reptiles, reptiles into birds, and birds into beasts; but this is as +wrong as it could be. Whatever the genealogy of the beasts may be, they +certainly were not evolved from birds, and are in many respects not +above them but below them. These are two independent branches of the +tree of living forms, as the Greeks and Romans were branches of the +stock of Japheth. The beasts may stand for the conquering Romans if you +like, but the birds are the Greeks, and have advanced far beyond them in +all emotional and artistic sensibility. They worship in the temple of +music and beauty. And, like ourselves, they have found no subject so +worthy of the highest efforts of art as their own dress. But the +clothing of the body must conform more or less to the figure, and so, +for a field in which invention and fancy may sport untrammelled, a lady +turns to her hat and a bird to its tail. And by both, with equal +heroism, every consideration of mere comfort, convenience, health, or +safety is swept aside in obedience to the higher aim. Is this only a +flippant jocularity, or is there here in very truth some profound law of +the mind revealing itself in spheres seemingly so disconnected? + +Look at a peacock. Its train, by the way, is a false tail, like the +chignon of twenty years ago, or the fringe of the present day; the true +tail is under it, and serves no purpose but to support it. Now the +peacock lives on the ground, among scrub and brushwood, haunted by +jackals and wild cats. They, like soldiers in khaki, reconnoitre him in +a uniform expressly designed to elude the eye, but he flaunts a flag +resplendent with green and gold. And when his one chance of life lies in +springing nimbly from the ground and committing himself to his strong +wings, he must lift and carry this ponderous paraphernalia with him. And +the terrible Bonelli's eagle is soaring above. But all is risked proudly +for the sake of the morning hour in the glade where the ladies assemble. +And the peacock is only one of many. Not to mention the lyre bird, the +Argus pheasant, the bird of paradise, and other splendid examples, there +are common dicky-birds which point the moral and adorn the tail as +emphatically. + +If the tail is a rudder, where should you look to find it in its most +simple and efficient form but among the flycatchers, which make their +living by aerial acrobatics after flies? Yet this family seems to be +peculiarly prone to the vanity of a stylish tail. The paradise +flycatcher flutters two streamers a foot long, like white ribbons, +behind it. The fantail could hide behind its own fan. The bee-eater has +the two central feathers prolonged and pointed. The drongos, which are +flycatchers in habit, wear their tails very long and deeply forked; and +one of them, the racket-tailed drongo, has the two side feathers +extended beyond the rest for nearly a foot, and as thin as wires, +expanding into a blade at the ends. I have seen nothing in ladies' hats +more preposterous. It is vain to object that there can be no proper +comparison between tails and hats because the woman chooses her own hat +while the bird has to wear what Nature has given it. I know that, but +the contention is utterly superficial. What choice has a woman as to the +style of her hat? Fashion prescribes for her, and Nature for the birds; +that is all the difference. No doubt she acquiesces when theoretically +she might rebel. The bird cannot rebel, but does it not acquiesce? Does +a lyre bird submit to its tail--wear it under protest, so to speak? +Believe me, every bird that has an aesthetic tail knows the fact, and +tries to live up to it. We may push the argument even further, for the +motmot of Brazil is not content with a ready-made tail, but actually +strips the web off the two long side feathers with its own beak, except +a little patch at the end, so as to get the pattern which Nature, if one +must use the phrase, gave to the racket-tailed drongo. A specimen is +exhibited in the hall of the South Kensington Museum. + +[Illustration: A BLACKBIRD AND A STARLING--THE ONE LIFTS ITS SKIRTS, +WHILE THE OTHER WEARS A WALKING DRESS.] + +In this connection I may also say that the shape or colour of a tail is +not everything. An observant eye may find much to note in the wearing of +them. There is a stylish way of carrying a tail and a slovenly way, and +there are coquettish arts for the display of recherche tails. A +blackbird and a starling are both tidy birds, and both walk much on the +ground, but the one lifts its skirts, while the other, more practical +and less fashionable, wears a walking dress and saves itself trouble. + +This line of observation leads to a higher, and reveals the most +important purpose that tails have served in the economy of beast, bird, +and reptile, and, perhaps, even cold-blooded fish. Before the godlike +countenance of man appeared on the earth, with its contractile forehead +and erectile eyebrows, the answering light of the eye, the expansive +nostrils, and subtilely mobile lips; before that the tail was the prime +vehicle of emotion and safety-valve of passion. It is a great truth, too +often buried in these days under rubbish of materialistic theories, that +some way of self-manifestation is a supreme necessity of all sentient +life. From the hot centre of thought and feeling the currents rush along +the nervous ways and pervade the whole frame, seeking an outlet. But +many passages are barred by duty, or fear, or eager purpose. A strong +gust of passion may burst all barriers and force its way out at every +point, but gentle currents flow along the lines of least resistance and +find the idle tail. I do not know a better illustration of this than a +cat watching a mouse. The ears are pricked forward, the eyes are fixed +on the unsuspecting victim, every muscle of the legs is tense, like a +bent bow ready to speed the arrow on its way. But see, the excitement +with which the whole body is charged cannot be wholly restrained, and +oozes out at the point of the tail. + +[Illustration: AT THE SIGHT OF A RIVAL THE DOG HOLDS ITS TAIL UP +STIFFLY] + +Every emotion and passion takes this course. The happy kid wags its tail +as it runs to its mother, the donkey when it has executed a successful +bray, and the dog when it sees its master. At the sight of a rival the +dog holds its tail up stiffly, unless, indeed, the rival is a bigger dog +than itself, in which case the index goes down quickly between the legs. +An elated horse elevates its tail, and so does a duck in the same mood. +A lizard preparing to fight another lizard + + Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail, + +and the raging lion of fiction lashes its sides with the same nervous +instrument. + +It would be tedious to dwell on the pretty part which the tail plays in +the courtships of sparrows and pigeons, or on the sprightly attitudes by +which birds of all sorts let off their spirits when shower and sunshine +have overfilled their hearts with gladness. But birds twitch their tails +constantly, without meaning anything by it. The ceaseless wagging of a +wagtail is a mere habit of cheerfulness, like the twirling of her thumbs +by an idle Scotswoman. The long tail is there and something must be done +with it. Look at the embarrassment which a nervous young man shows about +the disposal of his hands; how he thrusts them into his trouser pockets, +hangs them by their thumbs from the arm-holes of his waistcoat, or gives +them a walking-stick to play with. I like to imagine what such a fellow +would do with a long tail if he had it--how he would wind it round each +leg in turn, rub up his back hair, and describe figures on the floor. +But no animal so self-conscious as man could bear up long under the +nervous strain of having to think continually of its tail. It would die +young and the race would become extinct. Perhaps it did. + +A final word on the conclusion of the whole matter, for these +reflections have a moral. As habit becomes character, so expression +hardens into feature. The tail of a sheep grows downwards, but that of a +goat upwards, and this is the only infallible outward mark of +distinction between the two animals. But it is the permanent record of a +long history. The sheep was never anything but sheepish; the goat and +its forefathers were pert as kids and insolent when their beards grew. +It is useless to inquire why insolence should express itself by an +upturned tail until someone can advance a reason why it should express +itself in another way. + +For proof of the fact you need go no farther than your own dogs. The +ancestral wolf, or jackal, hunting and fighting, fearing and hoping, +showed every changing mood by the pose of its tail; but a change came +when it acquired an assured position of security and importance as the +chosen companion of man, so dreaded by all its kith and kin. The tail +went up at once and stayed there; when it could go no higher, it curled +over. But promotion breeds conceit only in base natures. The greyhound +is a gentleman, respectful and self-respecting, and it shows that by the +very carriage of its tail. Only a snob at heart, petted and pampered for +many generations, could have produced that perfect incarnation of smug +self-satisfaction, the pug. Let us take the lesson home. The thoughts on +which we let our minds dwell, and the sentiments that we harbour in our +hearts, are the chisels with which we are carving out our faces and +those of our children's children. + + + + +IV + + +NOSES + +Some may think that I have chosen a trivial subject, and they will look +for frivolous treatment of it. I can only hope that they will be +disappointed. There is nothing that the progress of science has taught +us more emphatically than this--that we must call nothing insignificant. +Seemingly trivial pursuits have led to discoveries which have benefited +all mankind, and priceless truths have been dug out of the most +unpromising mines. I am not insinuating that anyone's nose is an +unpromising mine, but I say that I am persuaded there is wisdom hidden +in that organ for him who will observingly distil it out. + +[Illustration: A SHREW CAN DO IT, BUT NOT A MAN.] + +It possesses a peculiar and mystical significance not shared by any +other feature. This is abundantly proved by common speech, which is one +of the most trustworthy of all kinds of evidence. For example, we speak +of a person turning up his nose at a good offer. The phrase is absurd, +for the power of turning up his nose is one which no human being ever +possessed. A shrew can do it, but not a man. Yet the meaning of the +saying needs no interpretation. Akin to it is the classical phrase, +_adunco suspendere naso_. What Horace means scarcely requires +explanation, but no commentator has successfully explained it. These +expressions well illustrate the mystery that enshrouds our most salient +feature. They show that, while everybody can see that disdain is +expressed through the nose, nobody can define how it is done. Then there +is that curious expression "put his nose out of joint," which is quite +inexplicable, the nose being destitute of joint. There are many other +phrases and also gestures which point in the same direction, but need +not be cited, being for the most part vulgar. Allusions to the nose have +a tendency to be vulgar, which is another mystery inciting us to +investigate it. So let us proceed. + +The first thing required by the principles of scientific precedure is a +definition. What is a nose? But this proves to be a much more difficult +question than anyone would suspect before he tried to answer it. The +individual human nose we can recognise, describe or sketch more easily +than any other feature, but try to define the thing _nose_ in Nature and +it is a most elusive phenomenon. When we speak of a man being led by the +nose we imply that it is a part of him which is prominent and situated +in front, when we speak of keeping one's nose above water we refer to it +as the breathing orifice, but when we say that this or that offends our +nose we are regarding it as the seat of the sense of smell. I believe +that all these three ideas must be included in any definition. It should +follow that insects, which breathe through holes in their sides, cannot +have noses, and this is the truth. + +Fishes, too, though they may have snouts, have not noses, because they +breathe by gills. In truth, it seems that the nose was a very late and +high acquisition, almost the finishing touch of the perfected animal +form. And incidentally this leads us to notice what a great step was +taken in evolution when the breathing holes were brought up to the +region of the mouth. For the sense of taste is necessarily situated in +the mouth, and the sense of smell is in close alliance with it. The +mouth tastes food dissolved in the saliva during the process of +mastication, and the primary use of the sense of smell is to detect and +analyse beforehand the small particles given off by food and floating in +the atmosphere. + +A good many years ago, when the late Sally chimpanzee was the darling of +the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, I watched her eating dates. She +was an epicure, and always peeled each date delicately with her +preposterous lips before eating it, and during the process she would +apply the date to her nose every second to test its quality or enjoy its +aroma. The action was indescribably comical, but what would it have been +if her nostrils had been situated among her ribs? Imagine a mantis, for +example, as he chews up a fly, lifting one of his wings and applying it +to his flanks to see if it smells gamey. That is where some naturalists +believe that the sense of smell is situated in insects. Others, however, +think, with reason, that it is in the antennae or mouth. Nobody knows; +the senses of the lower animals seem to be stuck about all parts of the +body. + +But, even if the sense of smell is at the mouth, how limited must its +usefulness be when it can only deal with substances that are held to it! +A new era dawned when the passages by which the breath of life +unceasingly comes and goes were transferred to the region of the mouth +also. The nerves of smell quickly spread themselves over the lining +membrane of those passages and became warders of the gate, challenging +every waft of air that entered the body and examining what it carried. +Thenceforth this region comprising the mouth, nostrils and surrounding +parts holds a new and high place in the economy of the body, for the +headquarters of the intelligence department are located there, and all +the faculties of the brain converge on that point. Of course, the eyes +and ears claim a share, but they are not far off. + +Now it is being recognised more and more clearly by medical and +physiological science that when the mind is much directed to any part of +the body it exercises an influence in some way not understood on the +flow of blood to that part to a degree which may seriously affect its +functions and even its growth. When a person is suffering from any +nervous affection, from heart disease, or even from weakness of the +eyes, it is of the utmost importance to keep him from knowing it if +possible, for if he knows it he will think about it, and that will +inevitably aggravate it. This principle is well recognised in systems of +physical culture. And surely it is impossible that so much intelligence +should pass through that one sensitive region of the body which we are +considering without affecting its growth and structure. Every muscle in +it becomes quick to respond to various sensations in different ways, +till the very recollection of those sensations will excite the same +response. + +Nay, we may go further. The mental emotions excited by those sensations +will be expressed in the same way. For example, the sense of smell is +peculiarly effective in exciting disgust. Anything which does violence +to the sense of hearing exasperates, but does not disgust. If a man +practises the accordion all day in the next room you do not loathe him, +you only want to kill him. But anything that stinks excites pure +disgust. Here you have the key to the fact that disgust and all feelings +akin to it, disdain, contempt and scorn, express themselves through the +nose. Darwin says that when we think of anything base or vile in a man's +character the expression of the face is the same "as if we smelled a bad +smell." This is an example of the temporary expression of a passing +emotion, and there are many others like it. But each of us has his +prevailing and dominant emotions which constitute the habitual +attitude of his mind. And by the habitual indulgence of any emotion the +features will become habituated to the expression of it, and so the set +of our features comes at last to express our prevailing and dominant +emotions; in other words, our _character_. + +[Illustration: THE NOSTRILS OF THE APTERYX ARE AT THE TIP OF ITS BEAK.] + +But let us return to the evolution of the nose. In these days of +universal "Nature study" nobody need be told that the practice of +breathing through the nostrils was introduced by the amphibians and +reptiles. The former (frogs and toads) take to it only when they come of +age, but lizards, snakes and all other reptiles do it from infancy. But +the nose is not yet. That is something too delicate to come out of a +cold-blooded snout covered with hard scales. Birds, too, by having their +mouth parts encased in a horny bill seem to be debarred from wearing +noses. And yet there is one primeval fowl, most ancient of all the +feathered families, which has come near it. I mean the apteryx, that +eccentric, wingless recluse which hides itself in the scrub jungles of +New Zealand. Its nostrils, unlike those of every other bird, are at the +tip of its beak, which is swollen and sensitive; and Dr. Buller says +that as it wanders about in the night it makes a continual sniffing and +softly taps the walls of its cage with the point of its bill. But the +apteryx is one of those odd geniuses which come into the world too soon, +and perish ineffectual. Its kindred are all extinct, and so will it be +ere long. + +[Illustration: A BOLD ATTEMPT TO GROW IN THE CASE OF A TAPIR] + +When we come to the beasts we find the right conditions at last for the +growth of the nose. Take the horse for an example of the average beast +without idiosyncrasy. Its profile is nearly a straight line from the +crown to the nostrils, beyond which it slopes downwards to the lips. The +skin of this part is soft and smooth, without hair, and the horse dearly +loves to have it fondled. The sense of touch is evidently uppermost. At +this stage there was what to the eye of fancy looks like a bold attempt +to grow a nose in the case of a tapir, but it miscarried. These hoofed +beasts are all very hard up for something in the way of a hand to bring +their food to their mouths. The camel employs its lips and the cow its +tongue; the muntjae or barking deer of India has attained a tongue of +such length that it uses it for a handkerchief to wipe its eyes. So the +tapir could not resist the temptation to misapply its nose to the +purpose of gathering fodder, and the ultimate result was the elephant, +whose nose is a wonderful hand and a bucket and other things. The pig, +being a swine, debased its nose in a worse way, making a grubbing tool +of it. + +There has been another attempt to misuse and pervert this part of the +face which I scarcely dare to touch upon, for it is so utterly fantastic +and mystical that I fear the charge of heresy if I give words to my +thoughts. It occurs among bats, a tribe of obscure creatures about which +common knowledge amounts to this, that they fly about after sunset, are +uncanny, and fond of getting entangled in the hair of ladies, and should +be killed. But there are certain families of bats, named horseshoe bats, +leaf-nosed bats and vampires about which common knowledge is _nil_, and +the knowledge possessed by naturalists very little, so I will tell what +I know of them. They are larger than common bats, their wings are broad, +soft and silent, like those of the owl, they sleep in caves, tombs and +ruins, they do not flutter in the open air, but swiftly traverse gloomy +avenues and shady glades, their prey is not gnats and midges, but the +"droning beetle," the death's head moth, the cockchafer, croaking frogs, +sleeping birds and _human blood_. The books will tell you that these +bats are distinguished by "complicated nasal appendages consisting of +foliaceous skin processes around the nostrils," which is quite true and +utterly futile. It may do for a dried skin or a specimen in spirits of +wine. I have had the foul fiend in a cage and looked him in the face. +His whole countenance, from lips to brow and from cheek to cheek, is +covered and hidden by a hideous design of + + Spells and signs, + Symbolic letters, circles, lines, + +sculptured in living, quivering skin. It is a sight to make the flesh +creep. The books suggest that these foliaceous appendages are the organs +of some special sense akin to touch. Futile again! There are things in +Nature still which prompt the naturalist who has not atrophied his inner +eye and starved his imagination to cry out: + + Science ... + Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart, + Vulture, whose wings are dull realities? + +Supposing there should be in the unseen universe an evil spirit, an imp +of malice and mischief, not Milton's Satan, but the Deil of Burns: + + Whyles ranging, like a roaring lion, + For prey, a' holes an' corners tryin; + Whyles on the strong-winged tempest flyin, + Tirlin the kirks; + Whyles in the human bosom pryin, + +and supposing him to crave possession of a body through which he might +get into touch with this material world and express himself in outward +forms and motions; then oh! how fitly were this bat explained. + +But let us go back to firm ground. If you compare a dog's profile with +that of a horse you will note at once that the nostrils are in advance +of the lips, and have a kind of portal to themselves. This is a distinct +advance. The sense of smell has come to the front and pushed aside the +lower sense of touch. You will observe, too, that with the growth of the +brain the brain-pan has elevated itself above the level of the nose. +Through the cat to the monkeys the process proceeds, the forehead +advancing, the jaws retreating, and the nostrils leaving the lips, until +they finally settle in a detached villa midway between the eyes and the +mouth. This is the nose. I do not know the use of it. I cannot fathom +the meaning of it. It is a solemn mystery. See the face of an +orang-outang. It is a _countenance_, a signboard with three distinct +lines of writing on it, the eyes, the nose and the mouth. You may not +think much of this particular nose. Neither do I. I think it is +situated rather too near the eyes and too far from the mouth. It is a +little too small also, and wants style. But you must not judge a first +attempt too critically. I have seen human noses of a pattern not unlike +this, but they are not considered aristocratic: perhaps they indicate a +reversion to the ancestral type. + +[Illustration: I HAVE SEEN HUMAN NOSES OF A PATTERN NOT UNLIKE THIS, BUT +THEY ARE NOT CONSIDERED ARISTOCRATIC.] + +But the noses even of monkeys are not all like this. In fact, there is a +good deal of variety, and two in particular have struck me as quite +remarkable. One is that of the long-nosed monkey (_Semnopithecus +nasalis_). I think it must have suggested Sterne's stranger on a mule, +who had travelled to the promontory of noses and threw all Strassburg +into a ferment. I have often contemplated this nose in mute wonderment, +and longed to see that monkey in life, if so be I might arrive at some +understanding of it; for the taxidermist cannot rise above his own +level, and the man who would mount _S. nasalis_ would need to be a Henry +Irving. Then there is the sub-nosed monkey, labelled _rhinopithecus_, of +which there is an expressive specimen at the South Kensington Museum. +Who can consider that nose seriously and continue to believe in a +recipe made up of struggle for existence, adaptation to environment, and +natural selection _quantum suf_.? If I could dine with that monkey, ask +it to drink a glass of wine with me, offer it a pinch of snuff and so +on, I might come in time to feel, if not to comprehend, the import of +its nose. + +[Illustration: THE LONG-NOSED MONKEY.] + +[Illustration: WHO CAN CONSIDER THAT NOSE SERIOUSLY?] + +But one step further is required for the evolution of what we may call +the human nose, and that is a solid foundation, a ridge of bone +connecting it with the brow and separating the eyes from each other. I +believe that the completeness of this is a fair index of the comparative +advancement of different races of men. In the Greek ideal of a perfect +face the profile forms a straight line from the top of the forehead to +the tip of the nose. This is the type of face which painters have +delighted to give to the Virgin Mary; and, when looking at their +Madonnas, one cannot help wondering whether they forgot that Mary was a +Jewess. According to the Hebrew ideal, a perfect nose was like "the +tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus" (Song of Solomon, vii. +4); but not even the ruins of that tower remain to help us to-day. The +Romans, no doubt, accepted the ideal of the Greeks aesthetically, but +their destiny had given them a very different nose, and they ruled the +world. + +Here is the nose of Julius Caesar as a coin has preserved it for us. I +think that the outline is too straight for a typical Roman, but the deep +dip under the brow and the downward point are characteristic. Now +compare the nose of another race which rules an empire greater than that +of the Caesars. Here is John Bull as _Punch_ usually represents him. It +belongs to the same genus as that of the Roman. The reason why this +should be the nose of command is not easy to give with scientific +precision, for we are dealing with the play of very subtle influences, +so the man without imagination will no doubt scoff. But I will take +shelter under Darwin. Dealing with the expression of pride he says, "A +proud man exhibits his sense of superiority by holding his head and body +erect. He is haughty _(haut),_ or high, and makes himself appear as +large as possible." Again, "The arrogant man looks down on others"; and +yet again, "In some photographs of patients affected by a monomania of +pride, sent me by Dr. Crichton-Browne, the head and body were held erect +and the mouth firmly closed. This latter action, expressive of decision, +follows, I presume, from the proud man feeling perfect self-confidence +in himself." + +Darwin says nothing about the nose, but I believe that, by physiological +sympathy, it cannot but take part in the habitual downward look upon +inferior beings. Darwin goes on to say that, "The whole expression of +pride stands in direct antithesis to that of humility"; from which it +follows, if my philosophy is sound, that the nose of Uriah Heep was +turned upwards. + +Of course, many emotions may share in the moulding of a nose, and the +whole subject is too intricate and vast to be treated briefly. I have +only given a few examples to illustrate my argument, and my conclusion +is that the key to the peculiar significance and personal quality of the +nose is to be found in its _immobility_. The eyes and lips are +incessantly in motion, we can twitch and wrinkle the cheeks and +forehead, and muscles to move the ears are there, though most men have +lost control of them. But the nose stands out like some bold promontory +on a level coast, or like the Sphinx in the Egyptian desert, with an +ancient history, no doubt, and a mystery perhaps, but without response +to any appeal. And for this very reason it is an index, not to that +which is transient in the man, but to that which is permanent. He may +knit his brows to seem thoughtful and profound, or compress his lips to +persuade his friends and himself that he has a strong will, but he can +play no trick with his nose. There it stands, an incorruptible witness, +testifying to what he is, and not only to what he is, but to the rock +whence he was hewn and to the pit whence he was digged. For his nose is +a bequest from his ancestors, an entailed estate which he cannot +alienate. + + + + +V + + +EARS + +Men and women have ears, and so have jugs and pitchers. In the latter +case they are useful: jugs and pitchers are lifted by them. And what is +useful is fit, and fitness is the first condition of beauty. But human +ears are put to no use, except sometimes when naughty little boys are +lifted by them in the way of discipline; and I can see no beauty in +them. It is only because they are so common that we do not notice how +ridiculous they are. In the days of Charles I. men sometimes had their +ears cut off for holding wrong opinions, which would have made them +famous and popular in these enlightened days, but at that time it made +all right-thinking people despise them, so the fashion of going without +ears did not spread among us. If it had, then how differently we should +all think of the matter now! If we were all accustomed to neat, round +heads at drawing-rooms, levees and balls, how repulsive it Would be to +see a well-dressed man with two ridiculous, wrinkled appendages sticking +out from the sides of his face! + +In saying this I am not drawing on my fancy, but on my memory. I can +recollect the time when no gentleman, still less any lady, would have +owned a terrier with its ears on. And why go back so far? The same +sentiment is prevalent in good society with respect to men's beards in +this year of grace and smooth faces. Yet, if one chance to be looking at +a Rembrandt instead of at society, what an infinitely handsomer adjunct +to a noble face is a fine beard than a pair of ears! + +When woman first looked at her face in a polished saucepan, she was at +once struck with the comicality of those things, and bethought herself +what to do with them. She decided to use them for pegs to hang ornaments +on. The improvement excited the admiration of her husband and the envy +of her rivals to such a degree that all other women of taste in her +tribe did the same, and from that day to this, in almost every country +in the world, it has been accounted a shame for any respectable woman to +show her face in public in the hideousness of naked ears. This discovery +of its capabilities gave a new value to the ear, and a large, roomy one +became an asset in the marriage market. I have seen a pretty little +damsel of Sind with fourteen jingling silver things hanging at regular +intervals from the outside edge of each ear. If Nature had been +niggardly, the lobe at least could be enlarged by boring it and +thrusting in a small wooden peg, then a larger one, and so on until it +could hold an ivory wheel as large as a quoit, and hung down to the +shoulders. + +But Nature surely did not intend the ear for this purpose. Then what +did she intend? A popular error is that the ears are given to hear with, +but the ears cannot hear. The hearing is done by a box of assorted +instruments (_malleus, incus, stapes_, etc.) hidden in a burrow which +has its entrance inside of the ear. If you argue that the ears are +intended to catch sounds and direct them down to the hearing instrument, +then explain their absurd shape. They are useless. A man who wants to +hear distinctly puts his hand to his ear. And why do they not turn to +meet the sounds that come from different quarters? They are absolutely +immovable, and therefore also expressionless. A savage expresses his +mind with all the rest of his face; he smiles and grins and pouts and +frowns, but his ears stand like gravestones with the inscriptions +effaced. How different is the case when you turn from man to the +"irrational" animals! The eyes of a fawn are lustrous and beautiful, but +they would be as meaningless as polished stones without the eloquent +ears that stand behind them and tell her thoughts. Curiosity, suspicion, +alarm, anger, submission, friendliness, every emotion that flits across +her quick, sensitive mind speaks through them. They are in touch with +her soul, and half the music of her life is played on them. And if you +abstract yourself from individuals and look at that thing, the ear, in +the wide field of life, what a great, living reality it is!--a spiritual +unity under infinite diversity of material form and fashion. It is like +the telegraph wire overhead, the commonest and plainest of material +things, but charged with the silent and invisible currents of the life +of the world. + +"Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore." + +[Illustration: OR PERHAPS WHEN IT WANTS TO LISTEN IT RAISES A FLIPPER TO +ITS EAR.] + +Birds have no ears, nor have crocodiles, nor frogs, nor snakes. Ears +seem to be for beasts only. And not for all beasts. Seals are divided by +naturalists into two great families--those with ears, and those without. +The common seal belongs to the latter class, and the sea-lion to the +former. A common seal lives in the sea, and when it does wriggle up on +the beach of an iceberg there is nothing to hear, I suppose, or perhaps +when it wants to listen it raises a flipper to its ear. I never saw one +doing so, but we do not see everything that happens in the world. The +sea-lion, with its stouter limbs, can lift its forepart, raise its head +and look about it, and even flop about the ice-fields at a respectable +rate. And there is no doubt that one of these is as much above an +earless seal as fifty years of Europe are better than a cycle of Cathay. +When performing seals are exhibited at a circus sitting on chairs, +catching balls on the points of their noses and playing diabolo with +them, or balancing billiard cues on their snouts, and doing other +miraculous things, they are always sea-lions, not common seals. Of +course, I do not mean to insinuate that sea-lions invented the ear and +stuck it on: that would be unscientific; but I mean that their general +intelligence and interest in affairs created that demand for more +distinct hearing which led to the development of an ear trumpet. This +view is wholly scientific, though pedants may quarrel with my way of +putting it. + +The sea-lion's ears are very minute, mere apologies one might think; but +don't be hasty. The finny prey of the sea-lion makes no sound as it +skims through the water; and perhaps the padded foot of that stealthy +garrotter, the Polar bear, makes as little on the smooth ice; for +catching the one and not being caught by the other the sea-lion must +trust to the keenness of its great goggle eyes. But it is a social +beast, and it wants to catch the bellowing of its fellows far across +the foggy waste of ice-floes; and that little leather scoop standing +behind the ear-hole seems to be just the instrument required to catch +and send down those sounds which would otherwise glance off the glossy +fur and never find entrance to the tiny orifice at all. If it were any +larger than is absolutely necessary it would be a serious impediment to +a professional diver and swimmer like the sea-lion. This is the reason +why otters have very small ears, and why whales and porpoises have none +at all. + +But when a beast lives on land the conditions are all altered, and then +the ear blossoms out into an infinite variety of forms and sizes, from +each of which the true naturalist may divine the manner of life of its +wearer as surely as the palmist tells your past, present and future from +the lines on your hand. First, he will divide all beasts into those that +pursue and those that flee, oppressors and oppressed. The former point +their ears forwards, but the latter backwards. There may be a good deal +of free play in both cases, but I am thinking of the habitual position. +When a cat is making its felonious way along the garden wall, wrapped in +thoughts of blackbirds and thrushes, its ears look straight forwards, +and this is the way in which a cat's portrait is always taken, because +it is characteristic, It cannot turn them round to catch sounds from +behind, and would scorn to do so; when accosted from behind, it turns +its head and looks danger in the face. It can fold them down backwards +when the danger is a terrier and the decks are cleared for action, but +that is another story. Contrast Brer Rabbit as he comes "lopin' up de +big road," His ears are turning every way scouting for danger, not +always in unison, but independently; but when he is at rest they are set +to alarm from the flank and rear. + +[Illustration: "TEAR OUT THE HOUSE LIKE THE DOGS WUZ ATTER HIM."] + +But when he "tear out the house like the dogs wuz atter him," then they +point straight back. He was made to be eaten, and he knows it. So it is +with the whole tribe of deer, and even with the horse, pampered and +cared for and unacquainted with danger; his ears are a weathercock +registering the drift of all his petty hopes and fears. I see the left +ear go forward and prepare for a desperate shy at that wheelbarrow. He +knows a wheelbarrow familiarly--there is one in his stall all day--but I +am taking him a road he does not want to go, and so the hypocrite is +going to pretend that barrow is of a dangerous sort. I prepare to apply +a counter-irritant: he sees it with the corner of his eye, and both ears +turn back like a tuning-fork. + +The size and quality of the ear serve to show how far the owner depends +on it. You will never begin to understand Nature until you see clearly +that every life is dominated by two supreme anxieties which push aside +all other concerns--viz., to eat, and not to be eaten. The one is +uppermost in those that pursue, and the other in those that flee. Now if +the pursuer fails he loses a dinner, but if the fugitive fails he loses +his life, from which it follows that the very best sort of ears will be +found among those beasts that do not ravage but run. + +But there is another matter to be taken into account. The ears are not +the whole of the beast's outfit. It has eyes, and it has a nose. Which +of the three it most relies on depends upon the manner of its life. A +bird lives in trees or the air, looking down at the prowling cat or up +at the hawk hovering in the clear sky; so it does not keep ears, and its +nose is of no account. But what four-footed thing can see like a bird? +The squirrel also lives in the trees, and its ears are frivolously +decorated with tufts of hair. You will not find many beasts that can +afford to prostitute their ears to ornamental purposes. The only other +beast that I can think of at this moment which has tufted ears is the +lynx. Now the lynx is a tree cat, and there is proverbial wisdom in the +saying "Eyes like a lynx." + +[Illustration: A GREAT CATHOLIC CONGRESS OF DISTINGUISHED EARS.] + +But go to the timid beasts that spend their lives on the ground among +grass and brushwood and woods and coppices, where murderous foes are +prowling unseen, and you will see ears indeed--expansive, tremulous, +turning lightly on well-oiled pivots, and catching, like large +sea-shells, the mingled murmur of rustling leaves and snapping twigs and +chirping insects and falling seeds, and the slight, occasional, abrupt, +fateful sound which is none of these. It is impossible, no doubt, for us +ever to think ourselves into the life which these beasts live--moving, +thinking and sleeping in a circumambient atmosphere of never-ceasing +sound; sitting, as it were, at the receiving station of a system of +wireless telegraphy, and catching cross-currents of floating +intelligence from all quarters, mostly undiscernible by us if we +listened for it, but which they, by long practice, instantly locate and +interpret without conscious effort. + +The zoologist classifies them under many heads. The field mouse and +rabbits are rodentia, the deer ungulata, the kangaroos marsupialia. In +my museum they are all one family, and their labels are their ears. In +these days of international conferences, parliaments of religion, +pan-everything-in-turn councils, might we not arrange for a great +catholic congress of distinguished ears? What a glow of new life it +would shed upon our straitened, traditional ways of thinking about the +social problems of our humble fellow-creatures! I would exclude the +eared owls, whose ears are a mere sport of fashion, like the hideous +imitations of birds' wings which ladies stick on their hats. + +But just when this peep into the rare show of Nature is lifting my soul +into sublimity, I am brought down to the base earth again by an +exception. This is the plague of all high science. You design a stately +theory, collect from many quarters a wealth of facts to establish it +with, and have arranged them with cumulative and irresistible force, +when some disgusting, uninvited case thrusts itself in on your notice +and refuses to fit into your argument at all. In this instance it is +"my lord the elephant." That he has no need to concern himself about any +bloodthirsty beast that may be lurking in the jungle is not more obvious +than that his ears are the biggest in the world. Now there are two ways +of getting rid of an obstruction of this kind. One is to betake yourself +to your thinking chair and pipe and to rake up the possibilities of the +Pleiocene and Meiocene ages, and prove that when the immense ear of the +elephant was evolved there must have been some carnivorous monster, some +sabre-toothed tiger or cave bear, which preyed on elephants. + +The other way is to get acquainted with the elephant, cultivate an +intimacy with him, and find out what his ears are to him. I prefer the +second way. I would patiently watch him as he stands drowsily under an +umbrageous banian tree on a sultry day before the monsoon has burst and +refreshed earth and air. So might I note that his ears are incessantly +moving, but not turning this way and that to catch sounds--just +flapping, flapping, as if to cool his great temples. So have I seen the +gigantic fruit bats, called flying foxes in India, hanging in hundreds +in the upper branches of a tall peepul tree at noon, feeling too hot to +sleep, and all fanning themselves in unison with one wing--a comic +spectacle. And at each flap of the elephant's ears I would observe that +a cloud of flies (for the elephant is not too great to be pestered by +the despicable hordes of beggars for blood) were dislodged from their +feeding grounds about his head and neck, and, trying to settle about his +rear parts, were driven back again by the swinging of his tail. Then I +should say that ear is just a fan. How significant it is that among the +emblems of royalty in the East the three chiefest are an +umbrella-bearer, two men who stand behind and swing great punkahs +modelled on the elephant's ear, and two others carrying yak's tails +wherewith to scare the flies from the royal person! The elephant is a +rajah! + +There is another mysterious ear which is a stumbling-block to the simple +theory-monger. It is in fashion among a tribe of bats to which belongs +the so-called vampire of India. This monster is fond of coming into your +bedroom at midnight through the open windows, but not to suck your +blood, for it has little in common with the true vampire of South +America. It brings its dinner with it and hangs from the ceiling, +"feeding like horses when you hear them feed." You hear its jaws +working--crunch, crunch, crunch, but feel too drowsy to get up and expel +it. + +When you get up in the morning there on your clean dressing table, just +below the place where it hung, are the bloody remains of a sparrow, or +the crumbs of a tree-frog. The servants will tell you that the sparrow +was killed and eaten by a rat, but if you rise softly next night when +you hear the sound of feeding, and shut the windows, you will find a +goblin hanging from the ceiling in the morning, hideous beyond the +power of words to tell. Its ears, thin, membranous and longer than its +head, tremble incessantly. Inside of them is another pair, much smaller +than the first, and tuned to their octave, I should guess, while two +membranous smelling trumpets of similar pattern rise over the nose. What +is the meaning of these repulsive instruments, and how does that strange +beast catch sparrows? When it comes out after dark and quarters the +garden, passing swiftly under and through the branches of trees, they +are sound asleep hidden among the leaves, motionless and silent. But +their flesh may be scented, and their gentle breathing heard if you have +instruments sufficiently delicate. Then the ample wings may suddenly +enfold the sleeping body, and the savage jaws grip the startled head +before there is time even to scream. Without a doubt this is the secret +of the vampire bat's ears. + +But to find food and flee death are not the only interests in life even +to the meanest creature. There are social pleasures, family affections +and fellowship, sympathy and co-operation in the struggles of life. And +there is love. + + Omne adeo genus in terris hominumque ferarumque, + Et genus aequoreum, pecudes, pictaeque volucres, + In furias ignemque ruunt: amor omnibus idem. + +The chirping of the cricket, the song of the lark, the call of the +sentinel crane, the watchword with which the migratory geese keep their +squadrons together, the howling of jackals, the lowing of cows, the hum +of the hive, the chatter of the drawing-room, and a hundred other voices +in forest and field and town remind us that the voice and the ear are +the pair of wheels on which society runs. + +And this thought points the way out of another contradictious puzzle, +that which confronts my argument from the ears of an ass. It roams +treeless deserts where no foe can approach unseen. Thistles make no +sound. Why should it be adorned with ears which in their amplitude are +scarcely surpassed by those of the rabbit and the hare. There is no +answer unless their function is to hear the bray of a fellow-ass.... One +may object that that majestic sound is surely of force to impress itself +without any aid from an external ear; but that is a vain argument built +on the costermonger's moke--dreary exile from its fatherland. Remember +that its ancestors wandered on the steppes of Central Asia or the +borders of the Sahara. In those boundless solitudes, with nothing that +eye can see or that common ear can hear to remind her that she is not +the sole inhabitant of the universe, the wild ass "snuffeth up the wind +in her desire," and lifting her windsails to the hot blast, hears, borne +across miles of white sand and shimmering mirage, the joyful +reverberations of that music which tells of old comrades and boon +companions scouring the plain and kicking up their exultant heels. + +Monkeys taking to trees were like the birds, they scarcely needed ears. +And so by the high road of evolution you arrive at man and the enigma of +his ear. It is a shrunken and shrivelled remnant, a moss-grown ruin, a +derelict ship. It is to a pattern ear what the old shoe which you find +in a country lane, shed from the foot of some "unemployed," is to one of +Waukenphast's "five-miles-an-hour-easy" boots. We ought to temper our +contempt for what it is with respect for what it was. All the parts of +it are there and recognisable, even to the muscles that should move it, +but we have lost control of them. I believe anyone could regain that by +persevering exercise of his will power for a time--that is, if he has +any. I have a friend who, if you treat him with disrespect, shrivels you +up with a sarcastic wag of his right ear. + +The ears of dogs open up another vista for the questioning philosopher. +Their day is past, too, and man may cut them short to match his own, but +the dog grows them longer than before. When he first took service with +man, and grew careless and lazy, the muscles got slack and the ears +dropped, which is in accordance with Nature. Then, instead of being +allowed to wither away, they have been handed over to the milliner and +shaped and trimmed in harmony with the "style" of each breed of dogs. +How it has been done is one of those mysteries which will not open to +the iron keys of Darwin, But there it is for those to see who have eyes. + +[Illustration: THE CURLS OF A MOTHER'S DARLING.] + +The ears of the little dogs bred for ladies' laps are the curls of a +mother's darling; the pendant love-locks of the old, old maid who, +despite of changeful fashions, clings to those memorials of the pensive +beauty of her youth, are repeated in solemn mimicry by the dachshund +trotting at her heels; but the sensible fur cap of the dignified +Newfoundland reminds us of the cold regions from which his forefathers +came. Some kinds of terriers still have their ears starched up to look +perky, and I have occasionally seen a dog with one ear up and the other +down as if straining after the elusive idea expressed in the +Baden-Powell hat. All which shows that "one touch of nature makes the +whole world kin." + + + + +VI + + +TOMMY + +THE STORY OF AN OWL + +Among the many and various strangers within my gates who have helped to +enliven the days of my exile, Tommy was one towards whom I still feel a +certain sense of obligation because he taught me for the first time what +an owl is. For Tommy was an owl. From any dictionary you may ascertain +that an owl is a nocturnal, carnivorous bird, of a short, stout form, +with downy feathers and a large head; and if that does not satisfy you, +there is no lack of books which will furnish fuller and more precise +descriptions. + +But descriptions cannot impart acquaintance. I had sought acquaintance +and had gained some knowledge such as books cannot supply, not only of +owls in general, but of that particular species of owls to which Tommy +belonged, who, in the heraldry of ornithology, was _Carine brahma_, an +Indian spotted owlet. This branch of the ancient family of owls has +always been eccentric. It does not mope and to the moon complain. It +flouts the moon and the sun and everyone who passes by, showing its +round face at its door and even coming out, at odd times of the day, to +stare and bob and play the clown. It does not cry "Tuwhoo, Tuwhoo," as +the poets would have it, but laughs, jabbers, squeaks and chants +clamorous duets with its spouse. + +All this I knew. I had also gathered from his public appearances that a +spotted owlet is happy in his domestic life and that he is fond of fat +white ants, for, when their winged swarms were flying, I had seen him +making short flights from his perch in a tree and catching them with his +feet; and I believed that he fed in secret on mice and lizards. But all +that did not amount to understanding an owl, as I discovered when Tommy +became a member of our chummery. + +Tommy was born in "the second city of the British Empire," to wit, +Bombay, in the month of March, 1901. His birthplace was a hole in an old +"Coral" tree. Domestic life in that hole was not conducted with +regularity. Meals were at uncertain hours and uncertain also in their +quantity and quality. The parents were hunters and were absent for long +periods, and though there was incredible shouting and laughter when they +returned, they came at such irregular times that we did not suspect that +they were permanent residents and had a family. One night, however, +Tommy, being precocious and, as we discovered afterwards, keen on seeing +life, took advantage of parental absence to clamber to the entrance of +the nursery and, losing his balance, toppled over into the garden. He +kept cool, however, and tried to conceal himself, but Hurree the malee, +watering the plants early in the morning, spied him lying with his face +on the earth and brought him to us. + +He seemed dead, but he was very much alive, as appeared when he was made +to sit up and turned those wonderful eyes of his upon us. He was a droll +little object at that time, nearly globular in form and covered with +down, like a toy for children to play with. His head turned like a +revolving lighthouse and flared those eyes upon you wherever you went, +great luminous orbs, black-centred and gold-ringed and full of silent +wonder, or, I should rather say, surprise. This never left him. To the +last everything that presented itself to his gaze, though he had seen it +a hundred times, seemed to fill him with fresh surprise. Nothing ever +became familiar. What an enviable cast of mind! It must make the +brightness of childhood perennial. + +There was some discussion as to how Tommy should be fed, and we finally +decided that one should try to open the small hooked beak, whose point +could just be detected protruding from a nest of fluff, while another +held a piece of raw meat ready to pop in. It did not look an easy job, +but we had scarcely set about it when Tommy himself solved the +difficulty by plucking the meat out of our fingers and swallowing it. +This early intimation that, however absent he might look, he was "all +there" was never belied, and there was no further difficulty about the +feeding of him. When he saw us coming he always fell into the same +ridiculous attitude, with his face in the dust, but we just picked him +up and stood him on his proper end and showed him the meat and his +bashfulness vanished at once. + +After sunset he would get lively and begin calling for his mother in a +strange husky voice. At this time we would let him out in the garden, +watching him closely, for, if he thought he was alone, he would sneak +away slyly, then make a run for liberty, hobbling along at a good rate +with the aid of his wings, though he never attempted to fly as yet. When +detected and overtaken, he fell on his face as before. One memorable day +he found a hole in a stone wall and, before we could stop him, he was +in. The hole was too small to admit a hand, though not a rat or a snake, +so the prospect was gloomy. Suddenly a happy inspiration came to me. +That sad, husky cry with which he expressed his need of a mother was not +difficult to mimic, and he might be cheated into thinking that a lost +brother or sister was looking for him. I retired and made the attempt, +and, hark! a faint echo came from the wall. At each repetition it became +clearer, until the round face and great eyes appeared at the mouth of +the hole. Then the round body tumbled out, and little Tommy was hobbling +about, looking, with pathetic eagerness, for "the old familiar faces." +When he discovered how he had been betrayed, his face went down and he +suffered himself to be carried quietly to the canary's cage in which he +was kept. + +It seemed to be time now to begin Tommy's education, for I judged that, +if he had been at home, he would ere then have been getting nightly +lessons in the poacher's art. So I procured a small gecko, one of those +grey house lizards, with pellets at the ends of their toes, which come +down from the roof after the lamps are lit and gorge themselves on the +foolish moths and plant bugs that come to the light. Securing it with a +thin cord tied round its waist, I introduced it into Tommy's cage. He +looked surprised, very much surprised. He raised himself to his full +height. He gazed at it. He curtseyed. He gave a little jump and was +standing with both feet on the lizard. A moment more and the lizard was +gliding down his throat with my thin cord after it. Mr. Seton Thompson +would have us believe that all young things are laboriously trained by +their parents, just like human children, and if he was an eye-witness of +all the scenes that he describes so vividly, it must be so with other +young things. But he did not know Tommy, who is the bird of Minerva and +evidently sprang into being, like his patron goddess, with all his +armour on. + +After a time, when he had exchanged his infant down for a suit of +feathers, he was promoted to a large cage out in the garden, and his +regular diet was a little raw meat or a mutton bone tied to one of his +perches, but, by way of a treat, I would offer him, whenever I could get +it, a locust, or large grasshopper. His way of accepting this was unique +and pretty. He would look surprised, stare, curtsey once or twice, stare +again and then, suddenly, noiselessly and as lightly as a fairy, flit +across the cage and, without alighting, pluck the insect from my fingers +with both his feet and return to his perch. + +Why he bowed to his food and to everybody and everything that presented +itself before him was a riddle that I never solved. A materialistic +friend suggested that he was adjusting the focus of his wonderful eyes, +and the action was certainly like that of an optician examining a lens; +but I feel that there was something more ceremonial about it. This +punctiliousness cost him his dinner once. I was curious to know what he +would do with a mouse, so, having caught one alive, I slipped it quietly +into his cage. He was more surprised than ever before, raised himself +erect, bowed to the earth once, twice and three times, stared, bowed +again and so on until, to his evident astonishment and chagrin, the +mouse found an opening and was gone. The lesson was not lost. A few days +later I got another mouse, to which he began to do obeisance as before, +but very soon and suddenly, though as softly as falling snow, he plumped +upon it with both feet and, spreading his wings on the ground, looked +all round him with infinite satisfaction. The mouse squeaked, but he +stopped that by cracking its skull quietly with his beak. Then he +gathered himself up and flew to the perch with his prize. + +One thing I noted about Tommy most emphatically. He never showed a sign +of affection, or what is called attachment. He maintained a strictly +bowing acquaintance with me. He was not afraid, but he would suffer no +familiarity. He would come and eat, with due ceremony, out of my hand, +but if I offered to touch him he was surprised and affronted and went +off at once. When I moved to another house I found that I could not +continue to keep him, so I sent him to the zoological garden, where I +visited him sometimes, but he never vouchsafed a token of recognition. +His heart was locked except to his own kin. + +But since that time, when I have seen an owl, even a barn owl, or a +great horned owl, swiftly cross the sky in the darkness of night, I have +felt that I could accompany it, in imagination, on its secret quest. It +will arrive silently, like the angel of death, in a tree overlooking a +field in which a rat, whose hour has come, is furtively feeding, all +alert and tremulous, but unaware of any impending danger. The rat will +go on feeding, unconscious of the mocking curtsey and the baleful eyes +that follow with mute attention its every motion, until the hand of the +clock has moved to the point assigned by fate, and then it will feel +eight sharp talons plunged into its flesh. I have seen the fierce dash +of the sparrow hawk into a crowd of unsuspecting sparrows, I know the +triumph of the falcon as it rises for the final, fatal swoop on the +flying duck, and I have watched the kestrel, high in air, scanning the +field for some rash mouse or lizard that has wandered too far from +shelter. The owl is also a bird of prey, but its idea is different from +all these. + + + + +VII + + +THE BARN OWL + +A FRIEND OF MAN + +A thunderstorm has burst on the common rat. Its complicity in the spread +of the plague, which has been proved up to the hilt, has filled the cup +of its iniquities to overflowing, and we have awakened to the fact that +it is and always has been an arch-enemy of mankind. Simultaneously, in +widely separated parts of the world, a "pogrom" has been proclaimed, and +the accounts of the massacre which come to us from great cities like +Calcutta and Bombay are appalling and almost incredible. They would move +to pity the most callous heart, if pity could be associated with the +rat. But it cannot. + +The wild rat deserves that humane consideration to which all our natural +fellow-creatures on this earth are entitled; but the domestic rat (I use +this term advisedly, for though man has not domesticated it, it has +thoroughly domesticated itself) cannot justify its existence. It is a +fungus of civilisation. If it confined itself to its natural food, the +farmer's grain, the tax which it levies on the country would still be +such as no free people ought to endure. But it confines itself to +nothing. As Waterton says: "After dining on carrion in the filthiest +sink, it will often manage to sup on the choicest dainties of the +larder, where like Celoeno of old _vestigia foeda relinquit_." It kills +chickens, plunders the nests of little birds, devouring mother, eggs and +young, murders and feeds on its brothers and sisters and even its own +offspring, and not infrequently tastes even man when it finds him +asleep. The bite of a rat is sometimes very poisonous, and I have had to +give three months' sick leave to a clerk who had been bitten by one. Add +to this that the rat multiplies at a rate which is simply criminal, +rearing a family of perhaps a dozen every two or three months, and no +further argument is needed to justify the war which has been declared +against it. Every engine of war will, no doubt, be brought into use, +traps of many kinds, poisons, cats, the professional rat-catcher, and a +rat bacillus which, if once it gets a footing, is expected to originate +a fearful epidemic. + +But I need not linger any more among rats, which are not my subject. I +am writing in the hope that this may be an opportune time to put in a +plea for a much persecuted native of this and many other countries, +whose principal function in the economy of nature is to kill rats and +mice. The barn, or screech, owl, which is found over a great part of +Europe and Asia and also in America, was once very common in Britain, +inhabiting every "ivy-mantled tower," church steeple, barn loft, hollow +tree, or dovecot, in which it could get a lodging. But it was never +welcome. Like the Jews in the days of King John it has been relentlessly +persecuted by superstition, ignorance and avarice. Avarice, instigated +by ladies and milliners, has looked with covetous eye on its downy and +beautiful plumes; while ignorance and superstition have feared and hated +the owl in all countries and all ages. In ancient Rome it was a bird of +evil omen. + + Foedaque fit volucris venturi nuncia luctus, + Ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen. + +In India, to-day, if an owl sits on the house-top, the occupants dare +scarcely lie down to sleep, for they know that the devil is walking the +rooms and marking someone for death. Lady Macbeth, when about the murder +of Duncan, starts and whispers, + + Hark! Peace! It was the owl that shrieked, + The fatal bellman. + +And even as late as the nineteenth century, Waterton's aged housekeeper +"knew full well what sorrow it had brought into other houses when she +was a young woman," Witches, like modern ladies of fashion, set great +value on its wings. The latter stick them on their hats, the witches in +Macbeth threw them into their boiling cauldron. Horace's Canidia could +not complete her recipe without + + "Plumamque nocturnae strigis." + +We may suppose that in Britain these superstitions are gone for ever, +killed and buried by board schools and compulsory education. If they are +(there is room for an _if_) they have been succeeded by a worse, the +superstition of gamekeepers and farmers. It is worse in effect, because +these men have guns, which their predecessors had not. And it is more +wicked, because it is founded on an ignorance for which there is no +excuse. How little harm the barn owl is likely to do game may be +inferred from the fact that, when it makes its lodging in a dovecot, the +pigeons suffer no concern! Waterton (and no better authority could be +quoted) scouts the idea, common among farmers, that its business there +is to eat the pigeons' eggs. "They lay the saddle," he says, "on the +wrong horse. They ought to put it on the rat." His predecessor in the +estate had allowed the owls to be destroyed and the rats to multiply, +and there were few young pigeons in the dovecot. Waterton took strong +measures to exterminate the rats, but built breeding places for the +owls, and the dovecot, which they constantly frequented, became prolific +again. + +But granting that the owls did twice the injury to game with which they +are credited, it would be repaid many times over by their services. +Waterton well says that, if we knew its utility in thinning the country +of mice, it would be with us what the ibis was with the Egyptians--a +sacred bird. He examined the pellets ejected by a pair of owls that +occupied a ruined gateway on the estate. Every pellet contained +skeletons of from four to seven mice. Owls, it may be necessary to +explain, swallow their food without separating flesh from bone, skin and +hair, and afterwards disgorge the indigestible portions rolled up into +little balls. In sixteen months the pair of owls above-mentioned had +accumulated a deposit of more than a bushel of these pellets, each a +funeral urn of from four to seven mice! In the old Portuguese fort of +Bassein in Western India I noticed that the earth at the foot of a +ruined tower was plentifully mixed with small skulls, jaws and other +bones. Taking home a handful and examining them, I found that they were +the remains of rats, mice and muskrats. + +The owl kills small birds, large insects, frogs and even fishes, but +these are extras: its profession is rat-catching and mousing, and only +those who have a very intimate personal acquaintance with it know how +peculiarly its equipment and methods are adapted to this work. The +falcon gives open chase to the wild duck, keeping above it if possible +until near enough for a last spurt; then it comes down at a speed which +is terrific, and, striking the duck from above, dashes it to the ground. +The sparrow hawk plunges unexpectedly into a group of little birds and +nips up one with a long outstretched foot before they have time to get +clear of each other. The harrier skims over field, copse and meadow, +suddenly rounding corners and topping fences and surprising small +birds, or mice, on which it drops before they have recovered from their +surprise. + +The owl does none of these things. For one thing, it hunts in the night, +when its sight is keenest and rats are abroad feeding. Its flight is +almost noiseless and yet marvellously light and rapid when it pleases. +Sailing over field, lane and hedgerow and examining the ground as it +goes, it finds a likely place and takes a post of observation on a fence +perhaps, or a sheaf of corn. Here it sits, bolt upright, all eyes. It +sees a rat emerge from the grass and advance slowly, as it feeds, into +open ground. There is no hurry, for the doom of that rat is already +fixed. So the owl just sits and watches till the right moment has +arrived; then it flits swiftly, softly, silently, across the intervening +space and drops like a flake of snow. Without warning, or suspicion of +danger, the rat feels eight sharp claws buried in its flesh. It protests +with frantic squeals, but these are stopped with a nip that crunches its +skull, and the owl is away with it to the old tower, where the hungry +children are calling, with weird, impatient hisses, for something to +eat. + +The owl does not hunt the fields and hedgerows only. It goes to all +places where rats or mice may be, reconnoitres farmyards, barns and +dwelling houses and boldly enters open windows. Sometimes it hovers in +the air, like a kestrel, scanning the ground below. And though its +regular hunting hours are from dusk till dawn, it has been seen at work +as late as nine or ten on a bright summer morning. But the vulgar boys +of bird society are fond of mobbing it when it appears abroad by day, +and it dislikes publicity. + +The barn owl lays its eggs in the places which it inhabits. There is +usually a thick bed of pellets on the floor, and it considers no other +nest needful. The eggs are said to be laid in pairs. There may be two, +four, or six, of different eggs, in the nest, and perhaps a young one, +or two, at the same time. Eggs are found from April, or even March, till +June or July, and there is, sometimes at any rate, a second brood as +late as November or December. This owl does not hoot, but screeches. A +weird and ghostly voice it is, from which, according to Ovid, the bird +has its Latin name, Strix (pronounced "Streex," probably, at that time). + + Est illis strigibus nomen, sed nominis hujus. + Causa, quod horrenda stridere nocte silent. + +It is a sound which, coming suddenly out of the darkness, might well +start fears and forebodings in the dark and guilty mind of untutored +man, which would not be dispelled by a nearer view of the strange object +from which they proceeded. White, ghostly, upright, spindle-shaped and +biggest at the top, where two great orbs flare, like fiery bull's-eyes, +from the centres of two round white targets, it stands solemn and +speechless; you approach nearer and it falls into fearsome pantomimic +attitudes and grimaces, like a clown trying to frighten a child. And now +a new horror has been added to the barn owl. The numerous letters which +appeared in _The Times_ and were summarised, with comments, by Sir T. +Digby Pigott, C.B., in _The Contemporary Review_ of July 1908, leave no +reasonable room for doubt that this bird sometimes becomes brightly +luminous, and is the will-o'-the-wisp for believing in which we are +deriding our forefathers. All things considered, I cannot withhold my +sympathy and some respect for the superstition of aged housekeepers, +Romans and Indians. For that of gamekeepers and farmers I have neither. +All our new schemes of "Nature study" will surely deserve the reproach +of futility if, in the next generation, every farmhouse in England has +not its own Owl Tower for the encouragement of this friend of man. + + + + +VIII + + +DOMESTIC ANIMALS + +Long before Jubal became the father of all such as handle the harp and +the organ and Tubalcain the instructor of every artificer in brass and +iron, Abel was a keeper of sheep, but the sacred writer has not informed +us how he first caught them and tamed them. If we consult other records +of the infancy of the human race, they reveal as little. When the +Egyptians began to portray their daily life on stone 6,000 or 7,000 +years ago, they already had cattle and sheep, geese and ducks and dogs +and plenty of asses, though not horses. They got these from the +Assyrians, who had used them in their chariots long before they began to +record anything. + +Further back than this we have no one to question except those shadowy +men of the Stone Age who have left us heaps of their implements, but +none of their bones. They were not so careful of the bones of horses, +which lie in thousands about the precincts of their untidy villages, but +not a scrawl on a bit of a mammoth tusk has been found to indicate +whether these were ridden and driven, or only hunted and eaten. + +Why should it be recorded that Cadmus invented letters? Why should we +inquire who first made gunpowder and glass? Why should every schoolboy +be taught that Watt was the inventor of the steam engine? Can any of +these be put in the scale, as benefactors of our race, with the man who +first trained a horse to carry him on its back, or drew milk with his +hands from the udders of a cow? The familiarity of the thing has made us +callous to the wonder of it. Let us put it before us, like a painting or +a statue, and have a good look at it. + +There is a farmhouse, any common farmhouse, just one of the molecules +that constitute the mass of our wholesome country life. A horse is being +harnessed for the plough: its ancestors sniffed the wind on the steppes +of Tartary. Meek cows are standing to be milked: when primitive man +first knew them in their native forests he used to give them a wide +berth, for his flint arrows fell harmless off their tough hides, and +they were fierce exceedingly. A cock is crowing on the fence as if the +whole farm belonged to himself: he ought to be skulking in an Indian +jungle. The sheep have no business here; their place is on the rocky +mountains of Asia. As for the dog, it is difficult to assign it a +country, for it owns no wild kindred in any part of the world, but it +ought at least to be worrying the sheep. If there is an ass, it is a +native of Abyssinia, and the Turkeys are Americans. The cat derives its +descent from an Egyptian. + +But all these are of one country now and of one religion. They know no +home nor desire any, except the farmhouse, in which they were born and +bred, and the lord of it is their lord, to whom they look for food and +protection. And what would he do without them? What should we do without +them? It is impossible to conceive that life could be carried on if we +were deprived of these obedient and uncomplaining servants. High +civilisation has been attained without steam engines; education, as we +use the term now, is superfluous--Runjeet Singh, the Lion of the Punjab, +could neither read nor write; the human race has prospered and +multiplied without the knowledge of iron; but we know of no time when +man did without domestic animals. + +It is vain to speculate how the thing first came about, whether the +sportive anthropoid ape took to riding on a wild goat before he emerged +as a man keeping flocks, or whether some great pioneer, destined to be +worshipped in after ages as a demigod, showed his fellows how the wild +calves, if taken young, might be trained into tractable slaves; and it +is hopeless to expect that any record will now leap to light which will +give us knowledge in place of speculation. But it might not be +unprofitable to seek for some clue to the strange selection which the +domesticating genius of man has made from among the multifarious +material presented to it by the animal kingdom. If we do so we shall +almost be forced to the conclusion that domesticability is a character, +or quality, inherent in some animals and entirely wanting in others. + +Let us begin with pigeons, a very large group, but one that shows more +unity than any of the other Orders into which naturalists divide birds. +It embraces turtle doves of many species, wood pigeons, ground pigeons, +fruit pigeons and some strange forms like the great crowned pigeon of +Victoria. Of all these only one, the common blue rock, has been +domesticated. The ring dove of Asia has been kept as a cage bird for so +long that a permanent albino and also a fawn-coloured variety have been +established and are more common in aviaries than birds of the natural +colour; but the ring dove has not become a domestic fowl, and never +will. In this instance there is a plausible explanation, for the blue +rock, unlike the rest of the tribe, nests and roosts in holes and is +also gregarious; therefore, if provided with accommodation of the kind +it requires, it will form a permanent settlement and remain with us on +the same terms as the honey bee; while the ring dove, not caring for a +fixed home, must be confined, however tame it may become, or it will +wander and be lost. + +But this explanation will not fit other cases. What a multitude of wild +ducks there are in Scotland and every other country, mallards, pintails, +gadwalls, widgeons, pochards and teals, all very much alike in their +habits and tastes! But of them all only one species, and that a +migratory one, the mallard, has been persuaded to abandon its wandering +ways and settle down to a life of ease and obesity as a dependant of +man. In India there is a duck of the same genus as the mallard, known as +the spotted-billed duck (_Anas poecilorhynchus_), which is as large as +the mallard and quite as tasty, and is, moreover, not migratory, but +remains and breeds in the country. But it has not been domesticated: the +tame ducks in India, as here, are all mallards. The muscovy duck is a +distinct species which has been domesticated elsewhere and introduced. + +From the ducks let us turn to the hens. The partridge, grouse and +pheasant are all dainty birds, but if we desire to eat them we must +shoot them, or (_proh pudor!_) snare them. Plover's eggs are worth four +shillings a dozen, but we must seek them on the moors. The birds that +have covenanted to accept our food and protection and lay their eggs for +our use and rear their young for us to kill are descended from _Gallus +bankivus_, the jungle fowl of Eastern India. How they came here history +records not: perhaps the gipsies brought them. They appear now in +strange and diverse guise, the ponderous and feather-legged +Cochin-China, the clean-limbed and wiry game, the crested Houdan, the +Minorca with its monstrous comb, and the puny bantam. In Japan there is +a breed that carries a tail seven or eight feet in length, which has to +be "done" regularly like a lady's hair, to keep it from dirt and damage. + +But however their outward aspects may differ, they are of the same +blood and know it. A featherweight bantam cock will stand up to an +elephantine brahma and fight him according to the rules of the ring and +next minute pay compliments to his lady in language which she will be at +no loss to understand. And if the artificial conditions of their life +were removed, they would soon all lapse alike to the image of the stock +from which they are sprung. This is well illustrated in a show case in +the South Kensington Museum exhibiting a group of fowls from Pitcairn's +Island. These are descended from some stock landed by the mutinous crew +of H.M.S. _Bounty_ in 1790, which ran wild, and in a century they have +gone back to the small size and lithe figure and almost to the game +colour of the wild birds from which they branched off before history +dawned. + +If we turn next to the Ruminants, the clean beasts which chew the cud +and divide the hoof, the puzzle becomes harder still. Deer and antelopes +are often kept as pets, and become so tame that they are allowed to +wander at liberty. In Egypt herds of gazelles were so kept before the +days of Cheops. In India I have known a black buck which regularly +attended the station cricket ground, moving among the nervous players +with its nose in the air and insolence in its gait, fully aware that +eighteen-inch horns with very sharp points insured respectful treatment. +Mr. Sterndale trained a Neilghai to go in harness. The great bovine +antelopes of Africa would become as tame, and there is no reason to +suppose that their beef and milk would not be as good as those of the +cow. But no antelope or deer appears ever to have been domesticated, +with the exception of the reindeer. + +Of the other ruminants the ox, buffalo, yak, goat, sheep and a few +others are domestic animals, while the bison and the gaur, or so-called +Indian bison, and a large number of wild goats and sheep have been +neglected. The buffalo and yak have probably come under the yoke in +comparatively recent times, for they are little changed; but the goat +and still more the sheep have undergone a wonderful transformation +within and without. Who could recognise in a Leicester ewe the wary +denizen of precipitous mountains which will not feed until it has set a +sentinel to give warning if danger approaches? And here is a curious +fact which has scarcely been noticed by naturalists. + +The original of our goat is supposed to be the Persian ibex. At any +rate, it was an ibex of some species, as its horns plainly show. But on +the plains of Northern India, under ranges of hills on which the Persian +ibex wanders wild, the common domestic goat is a very different animal +from that of Europe, and has peculiar spiral horns of the same pattern +as the markhor, another grand species of wild goat which draws eager +hunters to the higher reaches of the same mountains. From this it would +appear that two species of wild goat have been domesticated and kept to +some extent distinct, one eventually finding its way westward, but not +eastward and southward. + +The Indian humped cattle also differ so widely in form, structure and +voice from those of Europe that there can scarcely be a doubt of their +descent from distinct species. But both have entirely disappeared as +wild animals, unless indeed the white cattle of Chillingham are really +descendants of Caesar's dreadful urus and not merely domestic cattle +lapsed into savagery. So have the camel, and, with a similar possible +exception, the horse. Was the whole race in each of these cases +subjugated, or exterminated, and that by uncivilised man with his +primitive weapons? There is no analogy here with the extinction of such +animals as the mammoth, for the ox is a beast in every way fitted to +live and thrive in the present condition of this world, as much so as +the buffalo and the Indian bison, which show no sign of approaching +extinction. Our fathers easily got rid of the difficulty by assuming +that Noah never released these species after the Flood, but what shall +those do who cannot believe in the literality of Noah's ark? + +As for the dog, its domestication has been the creation of a new +species. The material was perhaps the wolf, more likely the jackal, but +possibly a blend of more than one species. But a dog is now a dog and +neither a wolf nor a jackal. A mastiff, a pug, a collie, a greyhound, a +pariah all recognise each other and observe the same rules of etiquette +when they meet. + +We must admit, however, that, whatever pliability of disposition, or +other inherent suitability, led to the first domestication of certain +species of animals, the changes induced in their natures by many +generations of domesticity have made them amenable to man's control to a +degree which puts a wide difference between them and their wild +relations. A wild ass, though brought up from its birth in a stable, +would make a very intractable costermonger's moke. We may infer from +this that the first subjugation of each of our common domestic animals +was the achievement of some genius, or of some tribe favourably +situated, and that they spread from that centre by sale or barter, +rather than that they were separately domesticated in many places. This +would partly explain why a few species of widely different families are +so universally kept in all countries to the exclusion of hundreds of +species nearly allied and apparently as suitable. When a want could be +supplied by obtaining from another country an animal bred to live with +man and serve him, the long and difficult task of softening down the +wild instincts of a beast taken from the forests or the hills and +acclimatising its constitution to a domestic life was not likely to be +attempted. + +But there have been a few recent additions to our list of domestic +animals. The turkey and the guinea fowl are examples, and perhaps +within another generation we may be able to add the zebra. And there may +be many other animals fitted to enrich and adorn human life which would +make no insuperable resistance to domestication if wisely and patiently +handled. Here is a noble opening for carrying out in its kindest sense +the command, "Multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have +dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and +over every living thing that moveth upon the face of the earth." + + + + +IX + + +SNAKES + +I have met persons, otherwise quite sane, who told me that they would +like to visit India if it were not for the _snakes_. Now there is +something very depressing in the thought that this state of mind is +extant in England, for it is calculated, on occasion, to have results of +a most melancholy nature. By way of example, let us picture the case of +a broken-hearted maiden forced to reject an ardent lover because duty +calls him to a land where there are snakes. Think of his happiness +blighted for ever and her doomed to a "perpetual maidenhood," harrowed +with remorseful dreams of the hourly perils and horrors through which he +must be passing without her, and dreading to enter an academy or +picture-gallery lest a laocoon or a fury might revive apprehensions too +horrible to be borne. In view of possibilities so dreadful, surely it is +a duty that a man owes to his kind to disseminate the truth, if he can, +about the present condition in the East of that reptile which, crawling +on its belly and eating dust and having its head bruised by the +descendants of Eve, sometimes pays off her share of the curse on their +heels. Here the truth is. + +Within the limits of our Indian Empire, including Burmah and Ceylon, +there are at present known to naturalists two hundred and sixty-four +species of snakes. Twenty-seven of these are sea-serpents, which never +leave the sea, and could not if they would. The remaining two hundred +and thirty-seven species comprise samples of every size and pattern of +limbless reptile found on this globe, from the gigantic python, which +crushes a jackal and swallows it whole, to the little burrowing +_Typhlops_, whose proportions are those of an earthworm and its food +white ants. + +If you have made up your mind never to touch a snake or go nearer to one +than you can help, then I need scarcely tell you what you know already, +that these are all alike hideous and repulsive in their aspect, being +smeared from head to tail with a viscous and venomous slime, which, as +your Shakespeare will tell you, leaves a trail even on fig-leaves when +they have occasion to pass over such. This preparation would appear to +line them inside as well as out, for there is no lack of ancient and +modern testimony to the fact that they "slaver" their prey all over +before swallowing it, that it may slide the more easily down their +ghastly throats. Their eye is cruel and stony, and possesses a peculiar +property known as "fascination," which places their victims entirely at +their mercy. They have also the power of coiling themselves up like a +watch-spring and discharging themselves from a considerable distance at +those whom they have doomed to death--a fact which is attested by such +passages in the poets as-- + + Like adder darting from his coil, + +and by travellers _passim_. + +This is the true faith with respect to all serpents, and if you are +resolved to remain steadfast in it, you may do so even in India, for it +is possible to live in that country for months, I might almost say +years, without ever getting a sight of a live snake except in the basket +of a snake-charmer. If, however, you are minded to cultivate an +acquaintance with them, it is not difficult to find opportunities of +doing so, but I must warn you that it will be with jeopardy to your +faith, for the very first thing that will strike you about them will +probably be their cleanness. What has become of the classical slime I +cannot tell, but it is a fact that the skin of a modern snake is always +delightfully dry and clean, and as smooth to the touch as velvet. + +The next thing that attracts attention is their beauty, not so much the +beauty of their colours as of their forms. With few exceptions, snakes +are the most graceful of living things. Every position into which they +put themselves, and every motion of their perfectly proportioned forms, +is artistic. The effect of this is enhanced by their gentleness and the +softness of their movements. + +But if you want to see them properly, you must be careful not to +frighten them, for there is no creature more timid at heart than a +snake. One will sometimes let you get quite near to it and watch it, +simply because it does not notice you, being rather deaf and very +shortsighted, but when it does discover your presence, its one thought +is to slip away quietly and hide itself. It is on account of this +extreme timidity that we see them so seldom. + +Of the two hundred and thirty-seven kinds that I have referred to, some +are, of course, very rare, or only found in particular parts of the +country, but at least forty or fifty of them occur everywhere, and some +are as plentiful as crows. Yet they keep themselves out of our way so +successfully that it is quite a rare event to meet with one. +Occasionally one finds its way into a house in quest of frogs, lizards, +musk-rats, or some other of the numerous malefactors that use our +dwellings as cities of refuge from the avenger, and it is discovered by +the Hamal behind a cupboard, or under a carpet. He does the one thing +which it occurs to a native to do in any emergency--viz. raises an +alarm. Then there is a general hubbub, servants rush together with the +longest sticks they can find, the children are hurried away to a place +of safety, the master appears on the scene, armed with his gun, and the + + Wee, sleekit, cowrin', tim'rous beastie, + +trying to slip away from the fuss which it dislikes so much, is headed, +and blown, or battered, to pieces. Then its head is pounded to a jelly, +for the servants are agreed that, if this precaution is omitted, it will +revive during the night and come and coil itself on the chest of its +murderer. + +Finally a council is held and a unanimous resolution recorded that +deceased was a serpent of the deadliest kind. This is not a lie, for +they believe it; but in the great majority of cases it is an untruth. Of +our two hundred and thirty-seven kinds of snakes only forty-four are +ranked by naturalists as venomous, and many of these are quite incapable +of killing any animal as large as a man. Others are very rare or local. +In short, we may reckon the poisonous snakes with which we have any +practical concern at four kinds, and the chance of a snake found in the +house belonging to one of these kinds stands at less than one in ten. + +It is a sufficiently terrible thought, however, that there are even four +kinds of reptiles going silently about the land whose bite is certain +death. If they knew their powers and were maliciously disposed, our life +in the East would be like Christian's progress through the Valley of the +Shadow of Death. But the poisonous snakes are just as timid as the rest, +and as little inclined to act on the offensive against any living +creature except the little animals on which they prey. Even a trodden +worm will turn, and a snake has as much spirit as a worm. If a man +treads on it, it will turn and bite him. But it has no desire to be +trodden on. It does its best to avoid that mischance, and, I need +scarcely say, so does a man unless he is drunk. When both parties are +sincerely anxious to avoid a collision, a collision is not at all likely +to occur, and the fact is that, of all forms of death to which we are +exposed in India, death by snake-bite is about the one which we have +least reason to apprehend. + +During a pretty long residence in India I have heard of only one +instance of an Englishman being killed by a snake. It was in Manipur, +and I read of it in the newspapers. During the same time I have heard of +only one death by lightning and one by falling into the fermenting vat +of a brewery, so I suppose these accidents are equally uncommon. Eating +oysters is much more fatal: I have heard of at least four or five deaths +from that cause. + +The natives are far more exposed to danger from snakes than we are, +because they go barefoot, by night as well as day, through fields and +along narrow, overgrown footpaths about their villages. The tread of a +barefooted man does not make noise enough to warn a snake to get out of +his way, and if he treads on one, there is nothing between its fangs and +his skin. Again, the huts of the natives, being made of wattle and daub +and thatched with straw, offer to snakes just the kind of shelter that +they like, and the wonder is that naked men, sleeping on the ground in +such places, and poking about dark corners, among their stores of fuel +and other chattels, meet with so few accidents. It says a great deal for +the mild and inoffensive nature of the snake. Still, the total number of +deaths by snake-bite reported every year is very large, and looks +absolutely appalling if you do not think of dividing it among three +hundred millions. Treated in that way it shrivels up at once, and when +compared with the results of other causes of death, looks quite +insignificant. + +The natives themselves are so far from regarding the serpent tribe with +our feelings that the deadliest of them all has been canonised and is +treated with all the respect due to a sub-deity. No Brahmin, or +religious-minded man of any respectable caste, will have a cobra killed +on any account. If one takes to haunting his premises, he will +propitiate it with offerings of silk and look for good luck from its +patronage. + +About snakes other than the cobra the average native concerns himself so +little that he does not know one from another by sight. They are all +classed together as _janwar,_ a word which answers exactly to the +"venomous beast" of Acts xxviii. 4; and though they are aware that some +are deadly and some are not, any particular snake that a _sahib_ has had +the honour to kill is one of the deadliest as a matter of course. I have +never met a native who knew that a venomous snake could be distinguished +by its fangs, except a few doctors and educated men who have imbibed +western science. In fact they do not think of the venom as a material +substance situated in the mouth. It is an effluence from the entire +animal, which may be projected at a man in various ways, by biting him, +or spitting at him, or giving him a flick with the tail. + +The Government of India spends a large sum of money every year in +rewards for the destruction of snakes. This is one of those sacrifices +to sentiment which every prudent government offers. The sentiment to +which respect is paid in this case is of course British, not Indian. +Indian sentiment is propitiated by not levying any tax on dogs, so the +pariah cur, owned and disowned, in all stages of starvation, mange and +disease, infests every town and village, lying in wait for the bacillus +of rabies. Against the one fatal case of snake-bite mentioned above, I +have known of at least half a dozen deaths among Englishmen from the +more horrible scourge of hydrophobia. In the steamer which brought me +home there were two private soldiers on their way to M. Pasteur, at the +expense, of course, of the British Government. + + + + +X + + +THE INDIAN SNAKE-CHARMER + +We must wait for another month or two before we can think of the winter +in this country in the past tense, but in India the month of March is +the beginning of the hot season, and the tourists who have been enjoying +the pleasant side of Anglo-Indian life and assuring themselves that +their exiled countrymen have not much to grumble at will now be making +haste to flee. + +During the month the various hotels of Bombay will be pretty familiar +with the grey sun-hat, fortified with _puggaree_ and pendent flap, which +is the sign of the globe-trotter in the East. And all the tribe of birds +of prey who look upon him as their lawful spoil will recognise the sign +from afar and gather about him as he sits in the balcony after +breakfast, taking his last view of the gorgeous East, and perhaps (it is +to be feared) seeking inspiration for a few matured reflections +wherewith to bring the forthcoming book to an impressive close. The +vendor of Delhi jewellery will be there and the Sind-work-box-walla, +with his small, compressed white turban and spotless robes, and the +Cashmere shawl merchant and many more, pressing on the gentleman's +notice for the last time their most tempting wares and preparing for the +long bout of fence which will decide at what point between "asking +price" and "selling price" each article shall change ownership. The +distance between these two points is wide and variable, depending upon +the indications of wealth about the purchaser's person and the +indications of innocence about his countenance. + +And when the poor globe-trotter, who has long since spent more money +than he ever meant to spend, and loaded himself with things which he +could have got cheaper in London or New York, tries to shake off his +tormentors by getting up and leaning over the balcony rails, the shrill +voice of the snake-charmer will assail him from below, promising him, in +a torrent of sonorous Hindustanee, variegated with pigeon English and +illuminated with wild gesticulations, such a superfine _tamasha_ as it +never was the fortune of the _sahib_ to witness before. + +_Tamasha_ is one of those Indian words, like _bundobust_, for which +there is no equivalent in the English language, and which are at once so +comprehensive and so expressive that, when once the use of them has been +acquired, they become indispensable, so that they have gained a +permanent place in the Anglo-Indian's vocabulary. It is not slang, but a +good word of ancient origin. Hobson-Jobson quotes a curious Latin writer +on the Empire of the Grand Mogul, who uses it with a definition +appended, "ut spectet Thamasham, id est pugnas elephantorum, leonum, +buffalorum et aliarura ferarum." "Show" comes nearest it in English, but +falls far short of it. + +The _tamasha_ which the snake-charmer promises the _sahib_ will include +serpent dances, a fight between a cobra and a mungoose, the inevitable +mango tree, and other tricks of juggling. But to a stranger the +snake-charmer himself is a better _tamasha_ than anything he can show. +He is indeed a most extraordinary animal. His hair and beard are long +and unkempt, his general aspect wild, his clothing a mixture of savagery +and the wreckage of civilisation. He wears a turban, of course, and +generally a large one; but it is put on without art, just wound about +his head anyhow, and hanging lopsidedly over one ear. It and the loose +cloth wrapped about the middle of him are as dirty as may be and truly +Oriental, though erratic. But, besides these, he wears a jacket of +coloured calico, or any other material, with one button fastened, +probably on the wrong buttonhole, and under this, if the weather is +cold, he may have a shirt seemingly obtained from some Indian +representative of Moses & Co. + +On his shoulder he carries a long bamboo, from the ends of which hang +villainously shabby baskets, some flat and round, occupied by snakes, +others large and oblong, filled with apparatus of jugglery. The members +of his family, down to an unclothed, precocious imp of ten, accompany +him, carrying similar baskets, or capacious wallets, or long, +cylindrical drums, on which they play with their fingers. The dramatic +effect of the whole is enhanced when one of them allows a huge python, a +snake of the _Boa constrictor_ tribe, which kills its prey by crushing +it, to wind its hideous, speckled coils round his body. + +What the snake-charmer is by race or origin ethnologists may determine +when they have done with the gipsy. He is not a Hindu. No particular +part of the country acknowledges him as its native. He is to the great +races, castes, and creeds of India what the waif is to the billows of +the sea. His language, in public at least, is Hindustanee, but this is a +sort of _lingua franca_, the common property of all the inhabitants of +the country. His religion is probably one of the many forms of demon +worship which grow rank on the fringes of Hinduism. He must be classed, +no doubt, with the other wandering tribes which roam the country, +camping under umbrellas, or something little better, each consecrated to +some particular form of common crime, and each professing some not in +itself dishonest occupation, like the tinkering of gipsies. + +But the snake-charmer is the best known and most widely spread of them +all. By occupation he is a professor of three occult sciences. First, he +is a juggler, and in this art he has some skill. His masterpiece is the +famous mango trick, which consists in making a miniature mango tree +grow up in a few minutes, and even blossom and bear fruit, out of some +bare spot which he has covered with his mysterious basket. It has been +written about by travellers in extravagant terms of astonishment and +admiration, but, as generally performed, is an extremely clumsy-looking +trick, though it is undoubtedly difficult to guess how it is done. A +more blood-curdling feat is to put the unclothed and precocious imp +aforementioned under a large basket, and then run a sword savagely +through and through every corner of it, and draw it out covered with +gore. When the sickened spectators are about to lynch the murderer, the +imp runs in smiling from the garden gate. + +The connection between these performances and the man's second trade, +namely, snake-charming, is not obvious to a Western mind; but it must be +remembered that the snake-charmer is not a mere, vulgar juggler, amusing +people with sleight-of-hand. His feats are miracles, performed with the +assistance of superior powers. In short, he is a theosophist, only his +converse is not with excorporated Mahatmas from Thibet, but with spirits +of another grade, whose Superior has been known from very remote +antiquity as an Old Serpent. In deference to this respectable connection +the cobra holds a distinguished place even in orthodox Hinduism. So it +is altogether fit that a performer of wonders should be on intimate +terms with the serpent tribe. The snake-charmer keeps all sorts of +them, but chiefly cobras. These he professes to charm from their holes +by playing upon an instrument which may have some hereditary connection +with the bagpipe, for it has an air-reservoir consisting of a large +gourd, and it makes a most abominable noise. As soon as the cobra shows +itself the charmer catches it by the tail with one hand, and, running +the other swiftly along its body, grips it firmly just behind the jaws, +so that it cannot turn and bite. Practice and coolness make this an easy +feat. Then the poison fangs are pulled out with a pair of forceps and +the cobra is quite harmless. It is kept in a round, flat basket, out of +which, when the charmer removes the lid and begins to play, it raises +its graceful head, and, expanding its hood, sways gently in response to +the music. + +Scientific men aver that a snake has no ears and cannot possibly hear +the strains of the pipe, but that sort of science simply spoils a +picturesque subject like the snake-charmer. So much is certain, that all +snakes cannot be played upon in this way: there are some species which +are utterly callous to the influences to which the cobra yields itself +so readily. No missionary will find any difficulty in getting a +snake-charmer to appreciate that Scripture text about the deaf adder +which will not listen to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so +wisely. + +To these two occupations the snake-charmer adds that of a medicine man, +for who should know the occult potencies of herbs and trees so well as +he? So, as he wanders from village to village, he is welcomed as well as +feared. But one wealthy tourist is worth more to him than a whole +village of ryots, so he keeps his eye on every town in which he is +likely to fall in with the travelling white man. And the travelling +white man would be sorry to miss him, for he is one of the few relics of +an ancient state of things which railways and telegraphs and the +Educational Department have left unchanged. + +The itinerant jeweller and the Sind-work-box-walla are unmistakably +being left behind as the East hurries after the West, and we shall soon +know them no more. Showy shops, where the inexperienced traveller may +see all the products of Sind and Benares, and Cutch and Cashmere, spread +before him at fixed prices, are multiplying rapidly and taking the bread +from the mouth of the poor hawker. But the snake-charmer seems safe from +that kind of competition. It is difficult to forecast a time when a +broad signboard in Rampart Row will invite the passer-by to visit Mr. +Nagshett's world-renowned Serpent Tamasha, Mungoose and Cobra Fight, +Mango-tree Illusion, etc. Entrance, one rupee. + + + + +XI + + +CURES FOR SNAKE-BITE + +In a little book on the snakes of India, published many years ago by Dr. +Nicholson of the Madras Medical Service, the conviction was expressed +that the snake-charmers of Burmah knew of some antidote to the poison of +the cobra which gave them confidence in handling it. He said that +nothing would induce them to divulge it, but that he suspected it +consisted in gradual inoculation with the venom itself. Putting the +question to himself why he did not attempt to attest this by experiment, +he replied that there were two reasons, which, if I recollect rightly, +were, first, that he had a strong natural repugnance to anything like +cruelty to animals, and, secondly, that he had observed that as soon as +a man got the notion into his head that he had discovered a cure for +snake-bite, he began to show symptoms of insanity. + +It is rather remarkable that, after so many years, another Scottish +doctor, not in Madras, but in Edinburgh, has proved, by just such +experiments as Dr. Nicholson shrank from, that an "aged and previously +sedate horse" may, by gradual inoculation with cobra poison, be +rendered so thoroughly proof against it that a dose which would suffice +to kill ten ordinary horses only imparts "increased vigour and +liveliness" to it. Further, Dr. Fraser has found that the serum of the +blood of an animal thus rendered proof against poison is itself an +antidote capable of combating that poison after it has been at work for +thirty minutes in the veins of a rabbit, and arresting its effects. And +all this has been achieved without apparent detriment to the +distinguished doctor's sanity. + +This must be intensely interesting intelligence to Englishmen throughout +India, and joyful intelligence too, for, scoff as we may at the danger +of being bitten by a poisonous snake, nobody likes to think that, if +such a thing _should_ happen to him (and very narrow escapes sometimes +remind us that it may), there would be nothing for him to do but to lie +down and die. And so, ever since the Honourable East India Company was +chartered, the antidote to snake poison has been a sort of philosopher's +stone, sought after by doctors and men of science along many lines of +investigation. And every now and then somebody has risen up and +announced that he has found it, and has had disciples for a season. + +But one remedy after another, though it might give startling results in +the laboratory, has proved to be useless in common life, and the +majority of Englishmen have long since resigned themselves to the +conclusion that there is no practical cure for the bite of a poisonous +snake. For what avails it to carry about in your travelling bag a phial +of strong ammonia and to live in more jeopardy of death by asphyxiation +than you ever were by snakes, unless you have some guarantee that, when +it is your fate to be bitten by a snake, the phial will be at hand? For +ammonia must act on the venom before the venom has had time to act upon +you, or it will only add another pain to your end; and that gives only a +few minutes to go upon. So with nitric acid and every agent that +operates by neutralising the poison and not by counteracting its +effects. And this has been the character of all the remedies hitherto +put forward. "They are," says Sir Joseph Fayrer, "absolutely without any +specific effect on the condition produced by the poison." + +But "anti-venene," as Dr. Fraser calls his immunised blood-serum, +follows the poison into the system, even after the fatal symptoms have +begun to show themselves, and arrests them at once. So the Anglo-Indian +may throw away his ammonia phial and, arming himself with another of +anti-venene and a hypodermic syringe, feel that he is safe against an +accident which will never happen. As for the man who is not nervous, he +will speak of the new antidote, and think of it as most interesting and +valuable, and go on his way as before with no expectation of ever being +bitten by a venomous snake. The medical man of every degree will order +a supply as soon as it is to be had, and conscientiously try to stamp +out the smouldering hope within him that somebody in the station will +soon be bitten by a cobra and give him a chance. + +Among the dusky millions of India Dr. Fraser's discovery will create no +"catholic ravishment" because they will not hear of it. And if they did +hear of it they would regard his labours as misapplied and the result as +superfluous. For the Hindu has never shared the Englishman's opinion +that there is no cure for snake-bite. On the contrary, he is assured +that there are not one or two but many specifics for the bite of every +kind of snake, known to those whose business it is to know them. If they +are not invariably efficacious, it is for the simple reason that if a +man's time has come to die he will die. But if his time has not come to +die they will not fail to cure him, and since no man can know when he is +bitten whether his time has come or not, he will lay the odds against +Fate by trying, not one or another of them, but as many as he can hear +of or get. Some of them are drastic in their effects, and so it too +often proves that the poor man's time has indeed come, for though he +might survive the snake he succumbs to the cure. + +It is many years now since the news was brought to me one day that a man +whom I knew very well had been bitten by a deadly serpent and was dying. +He was a fine, strongly built young fellow, a Mohammedan, in the employ +of a Parsee liquor distiller, in whose godown he was arranging firewood +when he was bitten in the foot. Without looking at the snake he rushed +out and, falling on his face on the ground, implored the bystanders to +take care of his wife and children as he was a dead man. The news spread +and all the village ran together. The man was taken to an open room in +his employer's premises and vigorous measures for his recovery were set +on foot, in which his employer's family and servants, his own friends +and as many of the general public as chose to look in, were allowed to +take part. + +First of all, some jungle men were called in, for the man of the jungle +must naturally know more about snakes than other men. These were +probably Katkurrees, an aboriginal race, who live by woodcutting, +hunting and other sylvan occupations. They proved to be practical men +and at once sucked the wound. An intelligent Havildar of the Customs +Department, who chanced to be present, then lanced the wound slightly to +let the blood flow, and tied the leg tightly in two places above it. +This was admirable. If what the jungle men and the Havildar did were +always and promptly done whenever a man is bitten by a snake, few such +accidents would end fatally. + +But this poor man's friends did not stop there. A supply of chickens had +been procured with all haste, and these were scientifically applied. +This is a remedy in which the natives have great faith, and I have known +Europeans who were convinced of its efficacy. The manner of its +application scarcely admits of description in these pages, but the +effect is that the chickens absorb the poison and die, while the man +lives. The number of chickens required is a gauge of the virulence of +the serpent, for as soon as the venom is all extracted they cease to +die. Nobody, however, could tell me how many chickens perished in this +case. They were all too busy to stop and note the result of one remedy +while another remained untried. And there were many yet. + +Somebody suggested that the venom should be dislodged from the patient's +stomach, so an emetic was administered in the form of a handful of +common salt, with immediate and seismic effect. Then a decoction of +_neem_ leaves was poured down the man's throat. The _neem_ tree is an +enemy of all fevers and a friend of man generally, so much so that it is +healthful to sleep under its shade. Therefore a decoction of the leaves +could not fail to be beneficial in one way or another. The residue of +the leaves was well rubbed into the crown of the man's head for more +direct effect on the brains in case they might be affected. Something +else was rubbed in under the root of the tongue. + +In the meantime a man with some experience in exorcism had brought twigs +of a tree of well-ascertained potency in expelling the devil, and +advised that, in view of the known connection between serpents and +Satan, it would be well to try beating the patient with these. The +advice was taken, and many stripes were laid upon him. Massage was also +tried, and other homely expedients, such as bandaging and thumping with +the fists, were not neglected. + +It was about noon when I was told of the accident, and I went down at +once and found the poor man in a woeful state, as well he might be after +such rough handling as he had suffered for four consecutive hours; but +he was quite conscious and there was neither pain nor swelling in the +bitten foot. I remonstrated most vigorously, pointing out that the +snake, which nobody had seen, might not have been a venomous one at all, +that there were no symptoms of poisoning, except such as might also be +explained by the treatment the man had suffered at the hands of his +friends, and that, in short, I could see no reason to think he was going +to die unless they were determined to kill him. + +My words appeared to produce a good effect on the Parsees at least, and +they consented to stop curing the man and let him rest, giving him such +stimulating refreshment as he would take, for he was a pious Mussulman +and would not touch wine or spirits. I said what I could to cheer him +up, and went away hoping that I had saved a human life. Alas! In an hour +or so a friend came in with a root of rare virtue and persuaded the man +to swallow some preparation of it. _Post hoc_, whether _propter hoc_ I +dare not say, he became unconscious and sank. Before night he was +buried. + +All this did not happen in some obscure village in a remote jungle. It +happened within a mile and a half of a town controlled by a municipal +corporation which enjoys the rights and privileges of "local +self-government." In that town there was a dispensary, with a very +capable assistant-surgeon in charge, and in that dispensary I doubt not +you would have found a bottle of strong _liquor ammoniæ_ and a printed +copy of the directions issued by a paternal Government for the recovery +of persons bitten by venomous serpents. But when the man was bitten the +one thing which occurred to nobody was to take him there, and when I +heard of the matter the assistant-surgeon had just left for a distant +place, passing on his way the gate of the house in which the man lay. +This was a bad case, but there is little reason to hope that it was +altogether exceptional. I am afraid there can be no question at all that +hundreds of the deaths put down to snake-bite by village punchayets +every year might with more truth be registered as "cured to death." + + + + +XII + + +THE COBRA BUNGALOW + +A STORY OF A MONEYLENDER + +Beharil Surajmul was the greatest moneylender in Dowlutpoor. He was a +man of rare talents. He remembered the face of every man who had at any +time come to borrow money of him since he began to work, as a little +boy, in his father's office, so that it was impossible to deceive him. +He had also such a miraculous skill in the making out of accounts that a +poor man who had come to him in extremity for a loan of fifty rupees, to +meet the expenses of his daughter's marriage, might go on making +payments for the remainder of his life without reducing the debt by one +rupee. In fact, it seemed to increase with each payment. + +And if the matter went into court, Beharilal never failed to show that +there was still a balance due to him much larger than the original loan. +But so courteous and pleasant was the Seth in his manner to all that +such matters never went into court until the right time, of which he was +an infallible judge, for he knew the private affairs of every family in +Dowlutpoor. Then a decree was obtained and the debtor's house, or land, +was sold to defray the debt, Beharilal himself being usually the +purchaser, though not, of course, in his own name, for he was a prudent +man. + +By these means Beharilal had become possessed of large estates, which he +managed with such skill that they yielded to him revenues which they had +never yielded to the former owners of them, while his tenants, who were +mostly former owners, grew daily more deeply involved in their pecuniary +obligations to him, and therefore entertained no thought of leaving him, +for he could put them into prison any day if he chose. Their contentment +gave him great satisfaction, and he treated them with benevolence, +giving them advances of money for all their necessary expenses and +appropriating the whole of their crops at the harvest to repay himself. +He bound them to buy all that they had need of at his shop, so that he +made profit off them on both sides. + +And as his wealth increased, his person increased with it and his +appearance became more imposing, so that he was regarded everywhere with +the highest respect and esteem. He was, moreover, a very religious man +and charitable beyond most. By early risers he might be seen in his +garden seeking out the nests of ants and giving them, with his own +hands, their daily dole of rice. It was his benevolent thoughtfulness +which had supplied drinking troughs for the flocks of pigeons that +continually plundered the stores of the other grain merchants. He had +also established a pinjrapole for aged, sickly and ownerless animals of +all kinds. To this he required all his tenants to send their bullocks +when they became unfit for work, and he sold them new cattle, good and +strong, at prices fixed by himself. If any of his old debtors, when +reduced to beggary, came to his door for alms, they were never sent away +without a handful of rice or a copper coin. He kept a bag of the +smallest copper coins always at hand for such purposes. + +Beharilal had a fine house, designed by himself and surrounded by a vast +garden stocked with mangoes, guavas, custard apples, oranges and other +fruit trees, and made beautiful and fragrant with all manner of flowers. +The cool shade drew together birds of many kinds from the dry plains of +the surrounding country, and it pleased Beharilal to think that they +also were recipients of his bounty and that the benefits which he +conferred on them would certainly be entered to the credit of his +account with Heaven. + +Some he fed, such as the crows, which flocked about the back door, like +a convocation of Christian padres, in the morning and afternoon, when +the ladies of his family gave out their portion of boiled rice and ghee. +The pigeons also came together in hundreds in an open space under the +shade of a noble peepul tree, where grain was thrown out for them at +three o'clock every day; and among them were many chattering sparrows +and not a few green parrots, which walked quaintly among the bustling +pigeons, their long tails moving from side to side like the pointer of +the scale on which the Bunia weighed his rupees. This resemblance struck +him as he reclined against the fat red cushion in his verandah summing +up his gains. There were other birds which would not eat his food, but +found abundance, suited to their respective castes, among the shrubs and +trees that he had planted. Mynas walked eagerly on the lawns looking for +grasshoppers, glittering sunbirds hovered over the flowers, thrusting +their slender bills into each nectar-laden blossom, bulbuls twittered +among the mulberries and the koel made the shady banian tree resound +with its melodious notes. + +In a remote corner of the garden, under the dark shade of a tamarind, +there stood a small shrine, like a whitewashed tomb, with a niche or +recess on one side of it containing a conical stone smeared with red +ochre. Some called it Mahadeo and some Khandoba, but no one could +explain the presence of a Mahratta god in a Bunia's garden in +Dowlutpoor, except by quoting an old tradition about one Narayen who had +come from the Mahratta country and lived for many years in this place. +Some said he was a prosperous goldsmith of great piety, but others +maintained that he was a Sunyasee, or saint, and there was no certainty +in the matter. The one point on which all were agreed was the great +sanctity of the shrine, and Beharilal was most careful to perform at it +every ceremony which custom, or tradition, sanctioned for placating the +god and averting any calamity that might arise from his displeasure. + +At the base of one of the old cracked walls of the shrine there was a +hole which was the den of a very large, black cobra. Several times it +had been seen in the garden, and, when pursued, had glided into this +hole and escaped. When Beharilal first heard of it he was much troubled +in his mind, but, having consulted a Brahmin, he gave strict injunctions +that the reptile should not be molested, and since that time he had +never failed to place an offering of milk near to the hole in the +morning and in the evening. + +Now it happened that at this time there was in Dowlutpoor an English +doctor who was generally known as the Jadoo-walla Saheb, because he was +believed to practise sorcery and had some mysterious need of snakes. +Perhaps he was only making experiments with their venom. At any rate, he +wanted live cobras and offered a good price for them. So when Nagoo, the +snake-charmer, heard that there was a large one in Beharilal's garden, +he thought he might do good business by capturing it for the Jadoo-walla +Saheb, and at the same time demanding a reward from the timorous Bunia +for ridding him of such a dangerous neighbour. With this intent he +repaired to the garden with all the apparatus of his art, his flat +snake baskets, his mongoose and his crooked pipe. Having reconnoitred +the ground, he commenced operations by sitting down on his hams and +producing such ear-splitting strains from the crooked pipe as might have +charmed Cerberus to leave his kennel at the gate of hell. Great was his +surprise and mortification when he heard the voice of Beharilal raised +in tones of unwonted passion and saw a stalwart Purdaisee advancing +towards him armed with an iron-bound lathee, who, without ceremony, nay, +with abusive epithets, hustled him and all his gear out of the garden. +Nagoo was a snake-charmer and by nature a gipsy, and this treatment +rankled in his dark bosom. + +Some weeks passed and the sun had scarcely risen when Beharilal sat in +the ota in front of his house at his daily business, which began as soon +as his teeth were cleaned and ended about eleven at night. The place was +not tidy. Two or three mats were spread on the floor, a spare one was +rolled up in a corner, several pairs of shoes were on the steps, +umbrellas leaned against the wall, handles downwards, and a large chatty +of drinking water stood beside them. The Bunia himself, bare-headed and +bare-footed, sat cross-legged on a cushion, with a wooden stool in front +of him, on which lay an open ledger of stout yellowish paper, bound in +soft red leather and nearly two feet in length. In this he was carefully +entering yesterday's transactions with a reed pen, which he dipped +frequently in a brass inkpot filled with a sponge soaked in a muddy +black fluid. + +Beside him sat his son, aged two years, playing with the red, lacquered +cylinder in which he kept his reed pens. Beharilal had two girls also, +but they were with the women folk in the interior of the house, where he +was content they should stay. This was his only boy, the pride and joy +of his heart. Engrossed as he was in recording his gains, he could not +refrain from lifting his eyes now and again to feast them on that rotund +little body, like a goblet set on two pillars. No clothing concealed the +tense and shiny brown skin, but there were silver bracelets on the fat +wrists and massive anklets where deep creases divided the fat little +feet from the fat little legs, and a representation, in chased silver, +of Eve's fig leaf hung from a silver chain which encircled the sphere +that should have been his waist. His globular head was curiously shaven. +From two deep pits between the bulging brow and the fat cheeks that +nearly squeezed out the little nose between them, two black diamonds +twinkled, full of wonder, as the small purse mouth prattled to itself +softly and inarticulately of the mysteries of life. + +Suddenly a startled cry, passing into a prolonged wail of fear, roused +old Beharilal, and he saw a sight that nearly caused him to swoon with +terror. The little man, a moment ago so placid and happy, was shrinking +back with "I don't like that thing" inscribed in lines of anguish on +his distorted face, and not three feet from him a huge cobra, just +emerged from the roll of matting, eyed him with a stony stare, its head +raised and its hood expanded. Its quivering tongue flickered out from +between its lips like distant flashes of forked lightning. + +For a moment Beharilal stood stupefied, then all the heroism that was in +him spent itself at once. Seizing the heavy wooden stool in both his +hands, he raised it high over his head and dashed it down on the +reptile. The sharp edge of hard wood broke its back, and as it wriggled +and lashed about, biting at everything within reach, the Bunia snatched +up his boy and waddled into the house at a pace to which he had long +been unaccustomed, calling out, in frantic gasps, for help. A rush of +excited and screaming women met him in the inner court, and he dropped +his precious burden, with pious ejaculations, into the arms of its +mother, and stood panting and speechless. Then calling aloud to know if +all danger was past, he ventured cautiously out again and saw that the +Purdaisee and the Malee had ejected the wriggling cobra and were +pounding its head into a jelly with a big stone. + +For some seconds he looked on in a strange stupor, and then he realised +what he had done. He, Beharilal, the Bunia, who had always removed the +insects so tenderly from his own person that they were not hurt, who had +never committed the sin of killing a mosquito or a fly; he, with his own +hands, had taken the life of the guardian cobra of the shrine! +"Urray-ray! Bap-ray!" he cried, "for what demerit of mine has this +ill-luck befallen me in my old age? What will happen now?" + +"Nay, Sethjkee," said the Malee, "be not afraid. It was in your destiny +that this offspring of Satan should come to its end by your hand. We +have pounded its head properly, so it will not return to you," + +"But what of its mate?" said Beharilal. "I have heard that, if any man +kills a cobra, its mate will follow him by day and by night until it has +had its revenge. Is that not so?" + +The Malee answered, "Chh, Chh! There is no mate of this cobra," but his +tone was not confident. + +"Go," cried Beharilal--"go quickly and call Nagoo, the snake-charmer. He +has knowledge." + +"I will go," said the Malee, and set off at a run; but when he got out +of the gate he lapsed into a leisurely walk, for why should a man lose +his breath without cause? In time he found his way to the little +settlement of huts constructed of poles and mats, where Nagoo sat on the +ground smoking his "chillum," and told his errand. + +"Why should I come?" was Nagoo's reply; "I went to take away that cobra +and the Bunia drove me from the garden with abuse. Why does he send for +me now?" + +"He is a Bunia," said the Malee, as if that summed up the whole matter; +but he added, after a pause, "If he sees a burning ground, he shakes +like a peepul leaf. The cobra has died by his hand and his liver has +become like water. Whatever you ask he will give. You should come," + +Nagoo replied aloud, "I will come," and to himself, "I will give him +physic." Then he took up his baskets and his pipe and followed the +Malee. + +Beharilal proceeded to business with a directness foreign to his habit, +looking over his shoulder at intervals lest a snake might be silently +approaching. "Good Nagoo," he said, "a great misfortune has happened. +The cobra of the shrine has been killed. Has it a mate?" + +"How can a cobra not have a mate?" answered Nagoo curtly. + +Then Beharilal employed the most insinuating of the many tones of his +voice. "Listen, Nagoo. You are a man of skill. Capture that cobra and I +will pay you well. I will give you five rupees." Then, observing no +response in the wrinkled visage of the charmer, "I will give you ten +rupees." + +Nagoo would have sold his revenge for a tithe of the wealth thus dangled +before him, but he saw no reason to suppose that there was another cobra +anywhere in the garden, so he answered with the calm confidence of an +expert, "That cannot be done. The serpent will not heed any pipe now. In +its mind there is only revenge." + +"Then what will it do?" said the trembling Bunia. + +"If its mate died by the hand of a man, it will follow that man until +it has accomplished its purpose." + +"But how will it know," asked Beharilal, "by whose hand its mate died?" + +Nagoo replied with pious simplicity, "How can I tell by what means it +knows? God informs it." + +"But," pleaded Beharilal, "is there no escape?--if a man goes away by +the railway or by water?" + +Nagoo pondered for a moment and said, "If a man crossed the sea, the +serpent would be baulked. If he goes by railway it will not leave him. +Let him go to Madras, it will find him." + +With a faltering hand the Bunia put some rupees, uncounted, into the +charmer's skinny palm, saying, "Go, make incantations. Do something. +There is great knowledge of mysteries with you"; and he hurried back +into the house. + +His arrangements were very soon made. His account books, with a bundle +of bonds and hoondies and cash and his son, were put into a small cart +drawn by a pair of fast trotting bullocks, into which he himself +climbed, after looking under the cushion to see that there was no evil +beast lurking there, and got away in haste while the sun was yet hot. +The rest of the family followed with the household property, and in a +few days the house was empty and only the Malee remained in charge. Many +years have passed and the house is empty still, and the Malee, grown +grey and frail, is still in charge. He gets no wages, but he sells the +jasmine flowers and the mangoes and guavas, and he grows chillies and +brinjals, and so fills the stomachs of himself and his little grandson +and is contented. If you ask him where the Seth has gone, he replies, +"Who knows?" His debt has gone with his creditor, "gone glimmering +through the dream of things that were," and he has no desire to recall +them. + +A civil or military officer from the station, taking a solitary walk, +sometimes finds himself at the Cobra Bungalow, and turns in to wander +among its old trees and unswept paths, obstructed by overgrown and +untended shrubs, and wonders how it got its name. Then he pauses at the +whitewashed shrine and notes that the god-stone has been freshly painted +red and that chaplets of faded flowers lie before it. But the old Malee +approaches with a meek salaam and a posy of jasmine and marigolds and +warns him that there is a cobra in the shrine. + + + + +XIII + + +THE PANTHER I DID NOT SHOOT + +It was January 13 of a good many years ago, in those happy days that +have "gone glimmering through the dream of things that were." The sun +had scarcely risen, and I was sitting in the cosy cabin of my yacht +enjoying my "chota hazree," which, being interpreted, means "lesser +presence," and in Anglo-Indian speech signifies an "eye-opener" of tea +and toast--the greater presence appears some hours later and we call it +breakfast. I will not say that the view from my cabin windows was +enchanting. The placid waters of the broad creek would have been +pleasant to look upon if the level rays of the sun in his strength had +not skimmed them with such a blinding glare, but the low, flat-topped +hills that bounded them were forbidding. + +The people said truly that God had made this a country of stones, but +they forgot that He had clothed the stones with trees of evergreen +foliage and a dense undergrowth of shrubs and grass, to protect and hold +together the thick bed of loam which the fallen leaves enriched from +year to year. It was the axes of their fathers that felled the trees, +to sell for fuel, and the billhooks of their mothers that hacked away +the bushes and grubbed up their very roots to burn on the household +cooking hole. Then the torrential rains of the south-west monsoon came +down on the naked, defenceless, parched and cracked soil and swept it in +muddy cascades down to the sea, leaving flats of bare rock, strewn thick +with round stones, sore to the best-shod foot of man and cruel to the +hoofs of a horse. About and among the huts of the unswept and malodorous +hamlet just above the shore there were fine trees, mango, tamarind, +babool and bor, showing what might have been elsewhere. + +On the rounded top of the highest hill frowned in black ruin an old +Mahratta fort, covered on the top and sides and choked within by that +dense mass of struggling vegetation which always takes possession of old +forts in India. The weather-worn stones and crumbling mortar seem to +feed the trees to gluttony. First some bird-drops the seeds of the +banian fig into crevices of the ramparts, and its insidious roots push +their way and grow and grow into great tortuous snakes, embracing the +massive blocks of basalt, heaving them up and holding them up, so that +they cannot fall. Then prickly shrubs and thorny trees follow, fighting +for every inch of ground, but quite unable to eject the gently +persistent custard-apple, descended doubtless from seeds which the +garrison dropped as they ate the luscious fruit, on account of which the +Portuguese introduced the tree from South America. I had penetrated +into that fort and had seen something of the snakes and birds of night, +but not the ghosts and demons which I was assured made it their +habitation by day. + +On a level place a little below the fort stood two monuments, telling of +the days when the Honourable East India Company maintained a "Resident" +at this place. Here he lived in proud solitude, upholding the British +flag. But his wife and the little one on whose face he had not yet +looked were on their way from Bombay in a native "pattimar" to join him, +and as he stood gazing over the sea at the red setting sun one 5th of +October, he thought of the glad to-morrow and the end of his dreary +loneliness. It fell to him to put up one of these monuments, with a +sorrowful inscription to all that was left to him on the following +morning, the "memory" of a beloved wife and an infant thirty-one days +old, drowned in crossing the bar on October 6, 1853. + + We have strewed our best to the weeds unrest, + To the shark and the sheering gull. + If blood be the price of admiralty, + Lord God, we ha' paid in full. + +I carried my gun and rifle with me in my yacht. They served to keep up +my character as a sportsman, and did not often require to be cleaned. So +the morning calm of my mind was lashed into an unwonted tempest of +excitement when my jolly skipper, Sheikh Abdul Rehman, came in and told +me briefly that a "bag" (which word does not rhyme with rag, but must +be pronounced like barg without the _r_ and signifies a tiger or +panther) had killed a cow in the village the night before last. + +When he added that the villagers had set a spring gun for it last +evening and it had returned to the "kill" and been badly wounded, my +excitement was turned into wrath. I had been at anchor here all +yesterday. The Indian ryot everywhere turns instinctively to the _sahib_ +as his protector against all wild beasts. What did these men mean by +keeping their own counsel and setting an infernal machine for their +enemy? Abdul Rehman explained, and the explanation was simple and +sufficient. My fat predecessor in the appointment that I held had no +relish for sport and kept no guns, so the simple villagers, when they +saw my boat with its familiar flag, looked for no help from that +quarter. However, I might still win renown off that wounded "bag," if it +was not a myth; but, to tell the truth, I was sceptical. The tiger and +the panther are not nomads on rocky plains, like the antelope. I landed, +notwithstanding, promptly and visited the scene. Sure enough, there was +a young heifer lying on its side, with the unmistakable deep pits where +the jaws of the panther had gripped its throat, and a gory cavity where +it had selected a gigot for its dinner. + +Round the corpse the villagers had arranged a circular fence of thorns, +with one opening, across which they had stretched a cord, attached at +the other end to the trigger of an old shooting iron of some sort, +charged with slugs and looking hard at the opening. The gun had gone off +during the night, and the ground was soaked with blood. A few yards off +there was another great swamp of blood. The beast had staggered away and +lain down for a while, faint and sick. Then it had got up and crawled +home, still dripping with blood, by which we tracked it for a good +distance, but the trace grew gradually fainter and at last ceased +altogether. + +"It has gone to the fort," said the men--"bags always go to the fort." I +pointed out that, if it had meant to go to the fort, it would have gone +towards the fort, instead of in another direction; but the argument did +not move them. "The fort is a jungle, and where else should a 'bag' take +refuge but in a jungle?" However, I was obstinate, and pursued the +original direction until we arrived at the brow of the hill, where it +sloped steeply down to the sea. The whole slope, for half a mile, was +covered with a dense scrub of Lantana bushes. This is another plant +introduced in some by-gone century from South America, and planted first +in gardens for its profuse clusters of red and pink verbena-like +blossoms (it is a near relation of the garden verbena), whence it has +spread like the rabbit in New Zealand, and become a nuisance. "There," I +cried, pointing at the scrub, "there, without doubt, your wounded 'bag' +is lying." + +Some of the men, unbelieving still, were amusing themselves by rolling +large stones down the slope, when suddenly there was a sound of +scrambling, and across an opening in the scrub, in sight of us all, a +huge hyaena scurried away "on three legs." I sent a man post-haste for +my rifle, which I had not brought with me, never expecting to require it +until a regular campaign could be arranged. As soon as it arrived, we +formed in line and advanced, throwing stones in all directions. + +Make no offering of admiration at the shrine of our hardihood, for we +were in no peril. Among carnivorous beasts there is not a more +contemptible poltroon than the hyaena, even when wounded. A friend of +mine once tied up a billy goat as a bait for a panther and sat up over +it in a tree. In the middle of the night a hyaena nosed it from afar, +and came sneaking up in the rear, for hyaenas love the flesh of goats +next to that of dogs. But the goat saw it, and, turning about bravely, +presented his horned front. This the hyaena could not find stomach to +face. For two hours he manoeuvred to take the goat in rear, but it +turned as he circled, and stood up to him stoutly till the dawn came, +and my friend cut short its disreputable career with a bullet. + +To return to my story, we had not gone far when, on a lower level, not +many yards from me, I was suddenly confronted by that repulsive, +ghoulish physiognomy which can never be forgotten when once seen, the +smoky-black snout, broad forehead and great upstanding ears. Instantly +the beast wheeled and scrambled over a bank, receiving a hasty rear +shot which, as I afterwards found, left it but one limb to go with, for +the bullet passed clean through a hindleg and lodged in a foreleg. It +went on, however, and some time passed before I descried it far off +dragging itself painfully across an open space. A careful shot finished +it, and it died under a thick bush, where we found it and dragged it +out. It proved to be a large male, measuring 4 feet 7 inches, from which +something over a foot must be deducted for its shabby tail. + +The natives all maintained still that their cow had been killed by a +panther, saying that the hyaena had come on the second night, after +their manner, to fill its base belly with the leavings. And there was +some circumstantial evidence in favour of this view. In the first place, +I never heard of a hyaena having the audacity to attack a cow; in the +second, the tooth-marks on the cow showed that it had been executed +according to the tradition of all the great cats--by seizing its throat +and breaking its neck; and in the third, a hyaena, sitting down to such +a meal, would certainly have begun with calf's head and crunched up +every bone of the skull before thinking of sirloin or rumpsteak. But the +absurdity of a panther being found in such a region outweighed all this +and I scoffed. + +I was yet to learn a lesson in humility out of this adventure. Two years +later I sailed over the bar and dropped anchor at the same spot. I was +met with the intelligence that on the previous evening two panthers had +been seen sitting on the brow of the hill and gazing at the beauties of +the fading sunset, as wild beasts are so fond of doing. A night or two +later a cow was attacked in a neighbouring field, and, staggering into +the village, fell down and died in a narrow alley between two houses. +The panther followed and prowled about all night, but the villagers, +hammering at their doors with sticks, scared it from its meal. + +I at once had a nest put up in a small tree, and took my position in it +at sunset. The common people in India do not waste much money on lamp +oil, preferring to sleep during the hours appointed by Nature for the +purpose, so it was not long before all doors were securely barred and +quietness reigned. Then the mosquitoes awoke and came to inquire for me, +the little bats (how I blessed them!) wheeled about my head, the +night-jar called to his fellow, and the little owls sat on a branch +together and talked to each other about me. Hour after hour passed, and +it became too dark in that narrow alley to see a panther if it had come. +So I came down and got to my boat. The panther was engaged a mile away +dining on another cow! On further inquiry I learned that there was some +good forest a day's journey distant, and it was quite the fashion among +the panthers of that place to spend a weekend occasionally at a spot so +full of all delights as this dark, jungle-smothered fort. + + + + +XIV + + +THE PURBHOO + +I do not believe that the Member of Parliament who moved the adjournment +of the House to consider the culpable carelessness of the Government of +India in allowing the Rajah of Muttighur to fall into the moat of his +own castle when he was drunk, could have told you what a Purbhoo is, not +though you had spelled it Prabhu, so that he could find it in his +_Gazetteer_. Of course he saw hundreds of them during that Christmas +which he spent in the East before he wrote his book; but then he took +them all for Brahmins. He never noticed that the curve of their turbans +was not the same, and the idol mark on their foreheads was quite +different, nor even that their shoes were not forked at the toes, but +ended in a sharp point curled upwards. And if he did not see these +things which were on the surface, what could he know of matters that lie +deeper? + +Now the first and most important thing to be known respecting the +Purbhoo, the fundamental fact of him, is that he is not a Brahmin. If he +were a Brahmin, one essential piece of our administrative apparatus in +India would be wanting, and without it the whole machinery would +assuredly go out of order. Nor is it easy to see how we could replace +him. Not one of the other castes would serve even as a makeshift. They +are all too far removed from the Brahmin. But the Purbhoo is near him, +irritatingly near him, and he has proved in practice to be just the sort +of homoeopathic remedy we require, the counter-irritant, the outward +blister by wise application of which we can keep down the internal +inflammation. + +In speaking of the Brahmin as an inflammation in the body politic I +disown all offensive and invidious implications. I am only using a +convenient simile. You may reverse it if you like and make the disease +stand for the Purbhoo, in which case the Brahmin will be the blister. +Which way fits the facts best will depend upon which caste chances at +the time to be nearest to the vitals of Government. + +The case stands thus. Before the days of British rule the Brahmin was +the priest and man of letters, the "clerke" in short. The rajahs and +chiefs were much of the same mind as old Douglas: + + Thanks to Saint Bothan son of mine, + Save Gawain, ne'er could pen a line, + +Gawain being a bishop. As a Mohammedan gentleman related to one of the +ruling Indian princes put the matter when speaking to me a few years +ago, "In those days none of us could write. Our pen was the sword. If +any writing had to be done the Brahmin was called in." And no doubt he +did excellent service, being diligent, astute, and withal pliant and +diplomatic. If to these qualities he added ambition, he might, and often +did, become a Cardinal Wolsey in the state. In Poona, for example, the +Brahmin Prime Minister gradually overshadowed the Mahratta king, and the +descendant of Shivajee was put on a back shelf as Rajah of Sattara, +while the Peishwa ruled at the capital. + +Of course this carnal advancement was not gained without some sacrifice +of his spiritual character, and the "secular" Brahmin had to bow, _quoad +sacra_, to the penniless Bhut, or "regular" Brahmin, who, refusing to +contaminate his sanctity by doing any kind of work, ate of the temple, +or lived by royal bounty or private charity, and by the free breakfasts +without which a marriage, "thread ceremony" or funeral in a gentleman's +house could not be respectably celebrated. Idleness and sanctity are a +powerful combination, and it is written in the _shastras_ that every day +in which a holy man does no work for his bread, but lives by begging, is +equal in the eyes of the gods to a day spent in fasting; so, though the +prospect of power and wealth might tempt a few restless and wayward +spirits, the great mass of the Brahmin caste clung to the sacred +calling. + +All this time the Purbhoo was in the land, but insignificant. He had no +sacred calling. Tradition assigned him a hybrid origin. He could not +presume to be a warrior, because his mother was a _shoodra_, nor could +he condescend to be a farmer, for his father was a _kshutriya_. So the +gods had given him the pen, and he was a writer--not a secretary, but a +humble quill-driver. But when the Portuguese and then the British came +upon the scene, not ruling by word of mouth, like the native rajahs, but +inditing their orders and keeping records, the Purbhoo saw an open door +and went in. + +Then the Brahmin woke up, for he saw that he was in evil case. The +spirit of the British _raj_ was falling like a blight and a pestilence +upon the means by which he had lived, drying up the fountains of +religious revenue and slowly but surely blighting the luxuriance of that +pious liberality which always took the form of feeding holy men. He +found that he must work for his bread whether he liked it or not, and +the only implement of secular work that would not soil his priestly hand +was the pen. And this was already taken up by the Purbhoo, who carried +himself haughtily under the new _regime_ and showed no mind to make way +for the holier man. Hence sprang those bitter enmities and jealousies +which have done so much to lighten the difficulties of our position. + +The British Government has often been accused of acting on the maxim, +_Divide et impera_. It is a libel. We do not divide, for there is no +need. Division is already there. We have only to rejoice and rule. How +well and justly we rule all the world knows, but only the initiated know +how much we owe to the fact that the talents and energies which would +otherwise be employed in thwarting our just intentions and +phlebotomising the ryot are largely preoccupied with the more useful +work of thwarting and undermining each other. + +What could a collector do single-handed against a host of clerks and +subordinate magistrates and petty officials of every grade, all armed +with the awfulness of a heaven-born sanctity, all hedged round with the +prestige of an ancient supremacy, endowed with a mole-like genius for +underground work which the Englishman never fathoms, and all leagued +together to suck to the uttermost the life blood of those inferior +castes which were created expressly for their advantage? + +_He_ is working in a foreign language, among customs and ways of thought +which it takes a lifetime to understand: _they_ are using their mother +tongue and handling matters that they have known from childhood. _He_ +cannot tell a lie and is ashamed to deceive: _they_ are trained in a +thrifty policy which saves the truth for a last resort in case +everything else should fail. He would be helpless in their hands as a +sucking child. But he knows they will do for him what he cannot do for +himself. The Purbhoo will lie in wait for the Brahmin, and the Brahmin +will keep his lynx eye on the Purbhoo. And woe to the one who trips +first. So the collector arranges his men with judicious skill to the +fostering of each other's virtue, and the result is most gratifying. +The country blesses his administration, and his subordinates are equally +surprised and delighted at their own integrity. + +I speak of a wise and able administrator. There are men in the Indian +Civil Service who are neither wise nor able, and some who are not +administrators at all, having most unhappily mistaken their vocation. +When such a one becomes collector of a district his _chitnis_, or chief +secretary, sees that that tide in the affairs of men has come which, +"taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," and his caste-fellows all +through the service are filled with unholy joy. But he does nothing rash +or hasty. Wilily and patiently he goes to work to make his own +foundation sure first of all. He studies his chief under all conditions, +discovers his little foibles and vanities and feeds them sedulously. He +masters codes, rules and regulations, standing orders, precedents and +past correspondence, till it is dangerous to contradict him and always +safe to trust him. In every difficulty he is at hand, clearing away +perplexity and refreshing the "swithering" mind with his precision and +assurance. He becomes indispensable. The collector reposes absolute +confidence in him and is proud to say so in his reports. + +Then the _chitnis_, if he is a Brahmin, addresses himself to the task of +eliminating the Purbhoo from the service, or at least depriving him of +place and power. It is a delicate task, but the Brahmin's touch is +light. He never disparages a Purbhoo from that day; "damning with faint +praise" is safer and as effectual. He practises the charity which +covereth a multitude of faults, but he leaves a tag end of one peeping +out to attract curiosity, and if the collector asks questions, he is +candid and tells the truth, though with manifest reluctance. Then he +grapples with the gradation lists, which have fallen into confusion, and +puts them into such excellent order that the collector can see at a +glance every man's past services and present claims to promotion. And +from these lists it appears that clearly, whenever any vacancy has to be +filled, a Brahmin has the first claim. And so, as the shades of night +yield to the dawn of day, the Purbhoo by degrees fades away and +disappears, and the star of the Brahmin rises and shines everywhere with +still increasing splendour. + +But the Purbhoo possesses his soul in patience, and keeps a note of +every slip that the Brahmin makes. For the next _chitnis_ may be a +Purbhoo, and then the day of reckoning will come and old scores will be +paid off. The Brahmin knows that too, and the thought of it makes him +walk warily even in the day of his prosperity. Thus our administration +is saved from utter corruption. + + + + +XV + + +THE COCONUT TREE + +Among the classic fairy-tales which passed like shooting stars across +those dark hours of our boyhood in which we wrestled with the grim +rudiments of Latin and Greek, and which abide in the memory after nearly +all that they helped to brighten has passed away, there was one which +related to a contest between Neptune and Minerva as to which should +confer the greatest benefit on the human race. Neptune first struck his +trident on the ground (or was it on the waves? "Eheu fugaces"--no, that +also is gone), and there sprang forth a noble steed, pawing the ground, +terrible in war and no less useful in peace. Then the watery god leaned +back and smiled as if he would say, "Now, beat that." But the Goddess of +Wisdom brought out of the earth a modest, dark tree bearing olives and, +in classic phrase, "took the cake," Oriental mythology is more luxuriant +and fantastic than that of the West, but I do not know if it has any +legend parallel to this. If it has, then I am sure the palm is awarded +to the deity who gave to the human race the tree that bears the coconut. + +Passing a confectioner's shop, I saw a tempting packet labelled +"Cokernut Toffee." I bought a pennyworth and gave it to my little girl, +and + + "I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge." + +How many boys and girls are there in this kingdom to whom the word +coconut connotes an ingredient which goes to the making of a very +toothsome sweetie? And how many confectioners and shop girls are there +whose idea is no broader? Again: + + "I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, + And merrie sang the Birde as she sat upon the spraye." + +And I said, "Little Bird, what do you know of the coconut?" And it made +answer, "It is a cup full of food, rich and sweet, which kind hands hang +out for me in winter," How narrow may be the key-hole through which we +take our outlook on things human and divine, never doubting that we see +the whole! In our own British Empire, only a few thousand miles away, +sits a mild Hindu, almost unclad and wholly unlettered, to whom the tree +that bore the fruit that flavoured the toffee that my little girl is +enjoying seems to be one of the predominating tints of the whole +landscape of life. It puts a roof over his head, it lightens his +darkness, it helps to feed his body, it furnishes the wine that maketh +glad his heart and the oil that causeth his face to shine, and time +would fail me to tell of all the other things that it does for him. As a +type and symbol, it is always about him, spanning the sunshine and +shower of life with bows of hope. + +The coconut tree is a palm, and has nothing to do with cocoa of the +breakfast table. That word is a perversion of "cacao," and came to us +from Mexico: the other is the Portuguese word "coco," which means a nut. +It is what Vasco da Gama called the thing when he first saw it, and the +word, with our English translation added, has stuck to it. The tree is, +I need scarcely say, a palm, one of many kinds that flourish in India. +But none of them can be ranked with it. The rough date palm makes dense +groves on sandy plains, but brings no fruit to perfection, pining for +something which only Arabia can supply; the strong but unprofitable +"brab," or fan palm, rises on rocky hills, the beautiful fish-tailed +palm in forests solitarily, while the "areca" rears its tall, smooth +stem and delicate head in gardens and supplies millions with a solace +more indispensable than tobacco or tea. But the coconut loves a sandy +soil and the salt breath of the sea and the company of its own kind. The +others grow erect as a mast, but the gentle coconuts lean on the wind +and mingle the waving of their sisterly arms, casting a grateful shade +on the humble folk who live under their blessing. + +To the mariner sailing by India's coral strand that country presents the +aspect of an endless beach of shell sand, quite innocent of coral, on +which the surf breaks continually into dazzling white foam against a +dark background of pensive palms. He might naturally suppose that they +had grown up of themselves, like the screw-pines and aloes which +sometimes share the beach with them; but that would be a great mistake. +Everyone of them has been planted and carefully watered for years and +manured annually with fresh foliage of forest trees buried in a moat +round the root. And so it grew in stature, but not in girth, until its +head was sixty, seventy or even eighty feet above the ground, and a +hundred nuts of various sizes hung in bunches from long, shiny, green +arms, each as thick as a man's, which had thrust themselves out from +between the lower fronds. + +There is no production of Nature that I know of less negotiable than a +coconut as the tree presents it. The man who first showed the way into +it deserved a place in mythology with Prometheus, Jason and other heroes +of the dawn. There is a crab, I know, which lives on coconuts, enjoying +the scientific name of _Birgus latro_, the Burglar; but it seems to be a +special invention, as big as a cat and armed with two fearful pairs of +pincers in front for rending the outside casings of the fruits, and a +more delicate tool on its hind-legs for picking out the meat. Other +animals have to do without it, as had man, I opine, in the stone and +copper ages. With the iron age came a chopper, called in Western India a +"koita," with which he can hack his way through most of the obstructions +of life. When, with this, he has slashed off the tough outer rind and +the inch-thick packing of agglutinated fibres, like metal wires, he has +only to crack the hard shell which contains the kernel. + +How little we can conceive the spaces in his life that would be empty +without that firm pulp, at once nutritious, sweet and fragrant! Curry +cannot be made without it, the cook cannot advance three steps in its +absence, pattimars laden with it are sailing north, south, east and +west, a thousand creaky wooden mills are squeezing the limpid oil out of +it, a hundred thousand little earthen lamps filled with that oil are +making visible the smoky darkness of hut and temple, brightening the +wedding feast and illuminating the sad page over which the candidate for +university honours nods his shaven head. That oil fed lighthouses of the +first order and illuminated viceregal balls and durbars before paraffin +and kerosene inundated the earth. And it has other uses. For arresting +premature baldness and preventing the hair turning grey its virtues are +equalled by no other oil known to us, and there is a fortune awaiting +the hairdresser who can find means effectually to remove or suppress its +peculiar and penetrating odour. Joao Gomez, my faithful "boy," did not +object to the odour, and when he had been tempted to pass my comb +through his raven locks as he was dusting my dressing table, I always +knew it. + +When the white kernel has been turned to account, the utilities of the +coconut are not exhausted. The shell, neatly bisected, makes a pair of +teacups, and either of these, fitted with a wooden handle, makes a handy +spoon. Laurenco de Gama demands one or two of these inexpensive spoons +to complete the furnishing of my kitchen. As for the obstinate casing +that wraps the coconut shell, it is an article of commerce. It must +first be soaked for some months in a pit on the slimy bank of the +backwater, until all the stuff that holds it together in a stiff and +obdurate mass has rotted away and set free those hard and smooth fibres +which nothing can rot. These, when thoroughly purged of the foul black +pollution in which they have sweltered so long, will go out to all +quarters of the world under the name of "coir" to make indestructible +door mats and other indispensable things. It will penetrate to every +corner of India in which a white man lives, to mat his verandahs and +stuff his mattresses. + +And who shall recount a tithe of its other uses? Of course, the nude man +under the coconut tree knows nothing of all this. He does without a +mattress, and has no use for a door mat. But he cannot do without +cordage, and if you took from him his coconut fibre, life would almost +stop. Wherewith would he bind the rafters of his hut to the beams, or +tether the cow, or let down the bucket into the well? What would all the +boats do that traverse the backwater, or lie at anchor in the bay, or +line the sandy beach? From the cable of the great pattimar, now getting +under weigh for the Persian Gulf with a cargo of coconuts, to the +painter of the dugout, "hodee," every yard of cordage about them is made +of imperishable coir. + +When the axe is at last laid to the old coconut tree, a beam will fall +to the earth sixty feet in length, hard as teak and already rounded and +smoothed. True, you cannot saw it into planks, but no one will complain +of that in a village which does not own a saw. It cleaves readily enough +and straightly, forming long troughs most useful for leading water from +the well to the plantation and for many other purposes. It can also be +chopped into lengths suitable for the ridge poles of the hut, or for +bridges to span the deep ditches which drain the rice fields or feed the +salt pans. When out in quest of snipe I have sometimes had to choose +between crossing by one of those bridges, innocent of even a handrail, +and wading through the black slough of despond which it spanned. +Choosing neither, I went home, but the "Kolee" and the "Agree" trip over +them like birds, balancing household chattels on their steady heads. + +We must not think, however, of the trunk as, at the best, anything more +than a by-product of the coconut tree, whose head is more than its body. +Even while it lives its head is shorn once a year, for, as fresh fronds +push out and upward from the centre, those of the outer circle get old +and must be cut away. And when one of those feathery, fern-like fronds, +toying with the breeze, comes crashing to the ground, it is ten or +twelve feet long, and consists of a great backbone, as thick at the base +as a man's leg, with a close-set row of swords on either side, about a +yard in length. They are hard and tough, but supple yet and of a shiny +green colour; but they will turn to brown as they wither. + +Now observe that this gigantic, unmanageable-looking leaf, like +everything else about the coconut tree, is almost a ready-made article, +demanding no machinery to turn it to account, except the "koita" which +hangs ever ready from the nude man's girdle. With it he will cleave the +backbone lengthwise, and then, taking each half separately, he will +simply twist backwards every second sword and plait them all into a mat +two feet wide, eight or ten feet long, and firmly bounded and held +together on one side by the unbreakable backbone. This is a "jaolee," +lighter than slates, or tiles, and more handy than any form of thatch. +You have just to arrange your "jaolees" neatly on your bamboo frame, +each overlapping the one below it, then tie them securely in their +places with coir rope and your roof is made for a year. + +There is yet another benevolence of the coconut tree which I have left +to the last, and the simple folk of whom I am trying to write with +fellow feeling would certainly have named it first. I ought to refer to +it as a curse: they, without qualm or question, call it a blessing. Let +me try to describe it dispassionately. If you wander in any palm grove +in Western India, looking upward, it will soon strike you that a large +number of the trees do not seem to bear coconuts at all, but black +earthen pots. If your visit should chance to be made early in the +morning, or late in the afternoon, the mystery will soon be revealed. +You will see a dusky, sinewy figure, not of a monkey, but of a man, +ascending and descending those trees with marvellous celerity and ease, +grasping the trunks with his hands and fitting his naked feet into +slight notches cut in them. The distance between the notches is so great +that his knee goes up to his chin at each step, but he is as supple as +he is sinewy and feels no inconvenience. For he is a Bhundaree, or +Toddy-drawer, and his forefathers have been Bhundarees since the time, I +suppose, when Manu made his immortal laws. + +His waistcloth is tightly girded about him, in his hand he carries a +broad billhook as bright and keen as a razor, and from his caudal region +depends a tail more strange than any borne by beast or reptile. It looks +like a large brown pot, constructed in the middle. It is, in fact, a +large gourd, or calabash, hanging by a hook from the climber's +waistband. When he has reached the top of a tree, he gets among the +branches and, sitting astride of one of them, proceeds to detach one of +the black pots from the stout fruit stem on which it is fastened, and +empty its contents into his tail. Then, taking his billhook, he +carefully pares the raw end of the stem, refastens the black pot in its +place and hurries down to make the ascent of another tree, and so on +until his tail is full of a foaming white liquor spotted with drowned +honey bees and filling the surrounding air with a rank odour of +fermentation. This liquor is "toddy." + +If I were a Darwin I would not leave that word until I had traced the +agencies which wafted it over sea and land from the shores of Hindustan +to the Scottish coast, where it first took root and, quickly adapting +itself to a strange environment, developed into a new and vigorous +species, spread like the thistle and became a national institution. At +first it was only the Briton's way of mouthing a common native word, +"tadi" (pronounced ta-dee), which meant palm juice; but it became +current in its present shape as early as 1673, when the traveller Fryer +wrote of "the natives singing and roaring all night long, being drunk +with toddy, the wine of the cocoe." About a century later Burns sang, + + The lads and lasses, blythely bent, + To mind baith saul and body, + Sit round the table, weel content, + And steer about the toddy. + +Between these I can find no vestigia, but imagination easily fills the +gap. I see a company of jovial Scots, met in Calcutta, or Surat, on St. +Andrew's Day. European wines and beer are expensive, whisky not +obtainable at all; but the skilful khansamah makes up a punch with toddy +spirit, hot water, sugar and limes, and they are "well content." After +many years I see the few of them who still survive foregathered again in +the old country, and one proposes to have a good brew of toddy for auld +lang syne. If real toddy spirit cannot be had, what of that? Whisky is +found to take very kindly to hot water and sugar and limes, and the old +folks at home and the neighbours and the minister himself pronounce a +most favourable verdict on "toddy." In short, it has come to stay. But +we must return to the liquor in the Bhundaree's gourd. It is the rich +sap which should have gone to the forming of coconuts, which is +intercepted by cutting off the point of the fruit stalk and tying on an +earthen pot. If the pot is clean, the juice, when it is taken down in +the morning, not fermented yet but just beginning to sparkle with minute +bubbles, not too sweet and not so oily as the milk of the coconut, is +nectar to a hot and thirsty soul. No summer drink have I drunk so +innocently restorative after a hot and toilsome march on a broiling May +morning. But the Bhundaree will not squander it so: he takes care not to +clean his pots, and when he takes them down in the morning the liquor is +already foaming like London stout. Not that he means to drink it +himself, for you must know that, by the rules of his caste, he is a +total abstainer, being a Bhundaree, whose function is to draw toddy, not +to drink it. This is one of those profound institutes by which the +wisdom of the ancients fenced the whole social system of this strange +land. + +But, while the Bhundaree must refuse all intoxicating drinks himself, it +is his duty to exercise a large tolerance towards those who are not so +hindered. He is, in fact, a partner in the business of Babajee, Licensed +Vendor of Fresh Toddy, towards whose spacious, open-fronted shop, +thatched with "jaolees," he now carries his gourds. There the contents +will stand, in dirty vessels and a warm place, maturing their +exhilarating qualities until the evening, when the Tam o' Shanters and +Souter Johnnies of the village begin to assemble and squat in a ring in +the open space in front. They may be Kolees, or fishermen, and Agrees, +who make salt, and aboriginal Katkurrees from the jungle, with their +bows and arrows, most bibulous of all, but among them all there will be +no Bhundaree. Babajee sits apart, presiding and serving, beside a dirty +table, on which are many bottles and dirty tumblers of patterns which +were on our tables thirty years ago. The assembly begins solemnly, +discussing social problems and bartering village gossip, for the Hindu +is by nature staid. After a while, at the second bottle perhaps, +cheerfulness will supervene, then mirth and garrulity, ending, as the +night closes round, with wordy contention and a general brawl. But +nothing serious will happen, for toddy, though decidedly heady, is at +the worst a thin potation. A strong and very pure spirit is distilled +from it, which has its devotees, but the rustic, as a rule, prefers +quantity to quality. We are often told that the British Government +taught the people of India to drink, but the scene that I have tried to +describe is indigenous conviviality, much older than any European +connection with the country. + +Is it any wonder that the coconut has become an emblem of fertility and +prosperity and all good luck? When a new house is building you will see +a high pole over the doorway, bearing coconuts at the top, with an +umbrella spread over them. Do not ask the owner the meaning of the sign, +for he does not know. He does not think about such matters, but he feels +about them and he knows that that is the right thing to do. Besides, he +might ask you why you nail a horseshoe over your door. The difference +between us and him is that we do such things in jest, no longer +believing in them. They are the husks of a dead faith with us. But the +Hindu's faith is very living still. So, when he breaks a coconut at the +launching of a pattimar, he is a gainer in hope, if nothing else; while +we squander our champagne and gain nothing. That nut follows him even to +the grave, or burning ground, with mystic significances which I cannot +explain. I have been told that, when a very holy man dies, who always +clothed himself in ashes and never profaned his hands with work, his +disciples sometimes break a coconut over his head. If the spirit can +escape from the body through the sutures of the skull instead of by any +of the other orifices, it is believed to find a more direct route to +heaven, so the purpose of this ceremony may be to facilitate its exit +that way. In that case the breaking of the nut is perhaps only an +accident, due to its not being so hard as the holy man's skull. + + + + +XVI + + +THE BETEL NUT + +One half the world does not know how the other half lives. Noticing a +pot of areca nut toothpaste on a chemist's counter, I asked him what the +peculiar properties of the areca nut were--in short, what was it good +for. He replied that it was an astringent and acted beneficially on the +gums, but he had never heard that it was used for any other purpose than +the manufacture of an elegant dentifrice. I felt inclined to question +him about the camel in order to see whether he would tell me that it was +a tropical animal, chiefly noted for the fine quality of its hair, from +which artist's brushes were made. Here was a man whose special business +it is to know the properties and uses of all drugs and their action on +the human system, and he had not the faintest notion that there are +nearly 300 millions of His Majesty's subjects, and many millions more +beyond his empire, who could scarcely think of life as a thing to be +desired if they were obliged to go through it without the areca nut. For +the areca nut is the betel nut. + +In the Canarese language and the kindred dialects of Malabar it is +called by a name which is rendered as _adike_, or _adika_, in scientific +books, but would stand more chance of being correctly pronounced by the +average Englishman if it were spelled _uddiky_. The coast districts of +Canara and Malabar being famed for their betel nuts, the trade name of +the article was taken from the languages current there, and was tortured +by the Portuguese into _areca_. Over the greater part of India the +natives use the Hindustanee name _supari_, but by Englishmen it is best +known as the betel nut, because it is always found in company with the +betel leaf, with which, however, it has no more connection than +strawberries have with cream. The one is the leaf of a kind of pepper +vine, and the other is the seed, or nut, of a palm. But nature and man +have combined to marry them to one another, and it is difficult to think +of them separately. + +In life the betel vine climbs up the stem of the areca palm, and in +death the areca nut is rolled in a shroud of the betel leaf and the two +are munched together. Other things are often added to the morsel, such +as a clove, a cardamom, or a pinch of tobacco, and a small quantity of +fresh lime is indispensable. + +What is the precise nature of the consolation derived from the chewing +of this mixture it is not easy to say. Outwardly it produces effects +which are visible enough, to wit, a most copious flow of saliva, which +is dyed deep red by the juice of the nut, so that a betel nut chewer +seems to go about spitting blood all the day. As every Hindu is a betel +nut chewer, those 943,903 superficial miles of country which make up our +Indian Empire must be bespattered to a degree which it dizzies the mind +to contemplate. This is one of the difficulties of Indian +administration. In large towns and centres of business it is found +necessary to fortify the public buildings in various ways. The Custom +House in Bombay has the wall painted with dark red ochre to a height of +three or four feet from the ground. + +But these are the outward results. What is the inwardness of the thing? +In a word, why do the people chew betel nut? Surely not that they may +spit on our public buildings. That is a chance result, not sought for +and not shunned. There is, of course, some deeper reason. Early +travellers in India were much exercised about this and used to question +the people, from whom they got some curious explanations. One reports, +"They say they do it to comfort the heart, nor could live without it." +Another says, "It bites in the mouth, accords rheume, cooles the head, +strengthens the teeth and is all their phisicke." A Latin writer gets +quite eloquent. "_Ex ea mansione_"--by that chewing--he says, "mire +recreantur, et ad labores tolerandos et ad languores discutiendos." + +But the remarkable thing is that the betel nut has these effects only on +the Hindu constitution. To a European the strong, astringent taste and +penetrating odour of the betel nut are alike insufferable, and there is +no instance on record, as far as I know, of an Englishman becoming a +betel nut chewer. But wherever Hindu blood circulates, not in India +only, but all through the islands of the Malay Archipelago, as far as +the Philippines, the betel nut is an indispensable ingredient of any +life that is worth living. Mohammedanism forbids spirits and Brahminism +condemns all things that intoxicate or stupefy, but the betel nut is +like the cup that cheers yet not inebriates. No religion speaks +disrespectfully of it. It flourishes, blessed by all, and takes its +place among the institutions of civilisation. Indeed it is the chief +cement of social intercourse in a country where all ordinary +conviviality between man and man is almost strangled by the quarantine +enforced against ceremonial defilement. Friend offers friend the betel +nut box just as Scotsmen offered the snuff-box in the hearty old days +that are passing away. And all visits of ceremony, durbars, receptions, +leave-takings, and public functions of the like kind are brought to an +august close by the distribution of _pan supari_. To go through this +rite without visible repugnance is part of the training of our young +Civil Servants. When the interview or ceremony has lasted as long as it +was intended to last, there enter, with due pomp, bearers of +heavy-scented garlands, woven of jasmine and marigold, and in form like +the muffs and boas that ladies wear in winter. These are put upon the +necks and wrists of the guests in order of rank. Silver vases and +sprinklers follow, containing rose-water and attar of roses. You may +ward off the former from your person by offering your handkerchief for +it, and you may present the back of your hand for the latter, of which +one drop will be applied to your skin with a tiny silver or golden +spoon. + +Finally, when everybody is reeking with incongruous odours and trying +not to be sick, a silver tray appears with the daintiest little packets +of _pan supari_, each pinned with a clove, and every guest is expected +to transfer one to his mouth, for they have been prepared by a Brahmin +and cannot hurt the most delicate caste. To an Englishman, however, it +is now generally conceded to compromise by keeping the morsel in his +hand, as if waiting an opportunity to enjoy it more at his leisure. When +you get home your servant craves it of you and contrasts real rajah's +_pan supari_ with the stuff which the poor man gets in the bazaar. + +The chewing of betel nut requires more apparatus and makes greater +demands on a man's time and personal care than the smoking of tobacco or +any of the allied vices. To cut the nut neatly an instrument is used +like an enormous pair of nutcrackers with a sharp cutting edge. The lime +should be made from oyster shells and it must be freshly burned and +slaked. Exposure to the air soon spoils it, so a small, air-tight tin +box is required to keep it in. Lastly, the betel leaf must be fresh, +and in a hot climate green leaves do not keep their freshness without +special care. + +But the necessity for attending to all these matters no doubt adds +greatly to the interest which a chewer of _pan supari_ is able to find +in life. Moreover, his taste and wealth have scope for expression in the +elegance of his appointments, and by these you may generally judge of a +man's rank and means. A well-to-do Mahratta cartman will carry in his +waistband a sort of bijou hold-all of coloured cloth, which, when +unrolled, displays neat pockets of different forms for the leaves, +broken nuts, lime box, spices, etc.; but a native magistrate, who goes +about attended by a peon and need not carry his own things, will have a +box of polished brass, or even silver, divided into compartments. + +One may easily infer that to meet such a universal want there must be a +correspondingly great industry, and the cultivation of the betel nut is +indeed a great industry, and a most beautiful one. Surely since Adam +first began to till the ground in the sweat of his face, his children +have found no tillage so Eden-like as this. India has produced no Virgil +to take the common charms of a farmer's life and put them into immortal +song, so we search her literature in vain to learn how her simple, +rustic people feel about these things, and in what we see of their life +there is little sign that they feel about them at all; but when the +Englishman, wandering, gun in hand, up a steaming valley among +forest-clad hills, suddenly finds the path lead him into a betel nut +garden, with no wire fence, or locked gate, or inhospitable notice +threatening prosecution to trespassers, he feels as if he had entered +some region of bliss where the earthly senses are too narrow for the +delights that press for entrance to the soul. + +In the first place, the areca nut palm is almost, if not altogether, the +most graceful of all its graceful tribe. Unlike the coconut, it grows as +erect as a flagstaff, and the effect of this is increased by its extreme +slenderness, for though it may attain a height of fifty feet, its +diameter scarcely exceeds six inches. At the top of the stem there is a +sheath of polished green, from the top of which again there issues a +tuft of the most ethereal, feathery fronds, diverging and drooping with +matchless grace. Under these hang the clusters of reddish-brown nuts. + +As the areca nut will not grow except in places that are at once moist +and warm, the gardens are generally situated in narrow valleys and dells +among hills, with little streams of limpid water rippling past them or +through them. The steaming heat of such situations can only be realised +by one who has traversed them at noon in the month of May in pursuit of +sport or natural history. But the palms grow so close together that +their fronds mingle into an almost unbroken roof, through which the sun +can scarcely peep, and every air that enters there has the heat charmed +out of it, and as it wanders among the broad, aromatic leaves of the +betel vines which wreathe the pillars of that fairy hall, it is +softened with balmy moisture, and laden with fragrance and scent to woo +your senses in perfect tune with the tinkling music of the water and the +enchanting beauty of the whole scene. + +In a large hut among these shades, with bananas waving their banner +leaves over the smooth and well-swept yard in front, where the children +play, lives the family that cultivates the garden. They are a sect of +Brahmins, but very unbrahminical, unsophisticated, industrious, +temperate, kind and hospitable. Other Brahmins despise them and wish to +deny them the name, because they have soiled their priestly hands with +agriculture. But they return the contempt, and walk in the way of their +fathers, a way which leads them among the purest pleasures that this +life affords and keeps them from many of its more sordid temptations. +Perhaps the picture has its darker shades too. I have not seen them, and +why should I look for them? + +The betel nut harvest is something of the nature of an acrobatic +performance, for the crop is not on the ground, but on poles forty or +fifty feet high. This is the manner in which it is gathered. The farmer, +attended by his wife, goes out, and slipping a loose loop of rope over +his feet to keep them together, so that when he gets the trunk of a tree +between them it may fit like a wedge, he clasps one of the trees with +his hands and goes up at a surprising rate. He carries with him a long +rope, and when he reaches the top, he fastens one end of it to the +tree, and throws the other to his wife, who goes to a distance and draws +it tight. Then the man breaks off a heavy bunch of ripe nuts, and +hitching it on the rope lets it go. It shoots down with such velocity +that it would knock his wife down did she not know how to dodge it +skilfully and break its force in a bend of the rope. + +When all the bunches are on the ground, the man begins to sway his body +violently till the tender and supple palm is swinging like a pendulum +and almost striking the trees on either side. Watching his opportunity, +the man grasps one of these and transfers himself to it with the +nimbleness of a monkey. In this way he makes an aerial journey round the +garden and avoids the fatigue of climbing up and down every separate +tree. + +The gathered betel nuts soon find their way to the warehouses of fat +Bunias at the coast ports, where they are peeled and prepared and sorted +and piled in great heaps according to quality, and finally shipped in +_pattimars_ and _cotias_ and coasting steamers, and so disseminated over +the length and breadth of the land to be the comforters of poor and +rich. + +It only remains to say that the betel nut is not used in the East for +tooth-powder, though the natives believe that the practice of chewing it +saves them from toothache. When they use any dentifrice it is generally +charcoal, and their toothbrush is either the forefinger or a fibrous +stick chewed at the end till it becomes like a stiff paintbrush. But +whatever he may use for the purpose, the Hindu cleans his teeth every +morning, and that most thoroughly, before he will allow food to pass his +lips, and the whiteness and soundness of his teeth are an object of envy +to Englishmen. + + + + +XVII + + +A HINDU FESTIVAL + +Poets may sing, + + "Let the ape and tiger die," + +but they are not quite dead yet, only caged, and where is the man in +whose bosom there lurks no wish that he could open the door just once in +a way and let them have a frisk? In the East there is no hypocrisy about +the matter. The tiger's den is barred and locked, and the British +Government keeps the key, but the ape has an appointed day in the year +on which he shall have his outing. They call it the _Holi_, which is a +misnomer, for of all Hindu festivals this is the most unholy; but of +that anon. + +I asked a Brahmin what this festival commemorated, and he said he did +not know. He knew how to observe it, which was the main thing. Of +course, there is an explanation of it in Hindu mythology, which the +Brahmin ought to have known, and very probably did know, but was ashamed +to tell. But it matters little, for we may be well assured that the +explanation was invented to sanctify the festival long after the +festival itself came into vogue, as has been the case with some of our +most Christian holidays. + +The Holi comes round about the time of the vernal equinox, when victory +declares for day and warmth in its long struggle with night and cold. +Then Nature rises and shakes herself as Samson rose and shook himself +and snapped the seven new cords that bound him, as tow is snapped when +it smells the fire. Then "the wanton lapwing gets himself another +crest," and then also the young Hindu's fancy lightly turns to thoughts +of love; and so it came about quite naturally that, looking around, +among his plentiful gods, for a deity who might fitly be invited to +preside over his lusty rejoicings at this season, he pitched upon +Krishna. + +For Krishna, when he was upon this earth, was an amorous youth, and his +goings on with certain milkmaids were such as would shock Mrs. Grundy at +the present day even in India, supposing he had been only a man. But he +was a god, therefore his doing a thing made it right, and, where he +presides, his worshippers may do as he did. Consequently, man, woman and +child of every caste and grade give themselves licence, during these +days of the Holi, to act and speak in a manner that would be scandalous +at any other time of the year. + +Hindus of the better sort are beginning to be outwardly, and some of +them, I hope, inwardly, rather ashamed of this festival, and it is time +they were. Yet there is always something cheering in the sight of +untutored mirth and exuberant animal joy breaking out and triumphing +over the sadness of life and the monotony of lowly toil; and I confess +that I find a pleasing side to this festival of the Holi. I like it best +as I have seen it in a fishing village on the west coast of India. + +At first sight you would not suspect the black and brawny Koli of much +gaiety, but there is deep down in him a spring of mirth and humour +which, "when wine and free companions kindle him," can break out into +the most boisterous hilarity and jocundity and even buffoonery, throwing +aside all trammels of convention and decorum. His women folk, too, +though they do not go out of their proper place in the social system, +assert themselves vigorously within it, and are gay and vivacious and +well aware of their personal attractions. So the Koli village looks +forward to the Holi and makes timely preparation for it. + +The night before the _poornima_, or full moon, of the month Phalgoon +arrives, each trim fishing boat is stored with flowers and leafy +branches, all the flags that can be mustered and a drum; then the whole +village goes a-fishing. Next morning each housewife gets up early to +decorate her house and trick out herself and her children. For though +the Koli is the most naked of men, his whole workaday costume consisting +of one rag about equal in amplitude to half a good pocket-handkerchief, +his wife is the most dressy of women. She is always well-dressed even +on common days. The bareness of her limbs may perhaps shock our notions +of propriety at first, for, being a mud-wader of necessity, like the +stork and the heron, she girds her garments about her very tightly +indeed; but this only sets off her wonderfully erect and athletic +figure, while her well-set head looks all the nicer that it has no +covering except her own neatly-bound hair. She never draws her _saree_ +coyly over her head, like other native women, when she meets a man. On +this day there is no change in the fashion of her costume (that never +changes), but she puts on her brightest dress, blue, or red, or lemon +yellow, with all her private jewellery, and decks her hair with a small +chaplet of bright flowers. + +Her children are tricked out with more fancy. The little brown girl, who +yesterday had not one square inch of cloth on the whole of her tiny +person, comes out a _petite_ miss in a crimson bodice and a white skirt, +with her shining black hair oiled and combed and plaited and decked with +flowers, and her neck and arms and feet twinkling with ornaments. Her +brother of six or seven looks as if he were going to a fancy-dress ball +in the character of His Highness the Holkar. His small head is set in a +great three-cornered Maratha turban, and his body, a stranger to the +feel of clothes, is masked in a resplendent purple jacket. The young men +of the village, such of them as are not gone a-fishing, have donned +clean white jackets. Beyond that they will not go, contemning +effeminacy. + +About nine o'clock, when the sun is now well up, the distant sound of a +tom-tom is heard, and the first of the returning fleet of _muchwas_ +appears at the mouth of the creek. A long line of red and white flags +extends from the top of the mainyard to the helm and streamers flutter +from the mastheads. A monster bouquet of marigolds is mounted on the +bowsprit, branches of trees are stuck about in all possible situations, +and three or four large fishes hang from the bow, trailing their tails +in the water. With the exception of the man at the helm, who sits +stolid, minding his business, and one youth who plays the tom-tom, the +crew are standing in a ring, gesticulating with their arms and legs, or +waving wands and branches of trees. Some have half of their faces +smeared with red paint. If a boat passes they greet it with a shout and +a sally of wit or ribaldry. The other _muchwas_ follow close behind, +with every inch of white sail spread and all a-flutter with flags and +streamers: it would be difficult to imagine a prettier spectacle, and +the tom-toming and the happiness beaming on the faces of the crews are +almost infectious. One feels almost compelled to wave one's hat and cry, +"Hip, hip, hooray!" + +The boats come to shore, and then there ought to be a tumbling out of +the silvery harvest and a gathering of women and a strife indescribable +of shrill tongues, and then a long procession of wives and daughters +trotting to market, each balancing a great, dripping basket on her +comely head, while the husbands and fathers go home to eat and sleep. +But there is none of that to-day. The silvery harvest may go to +destruction and the husbands and fathers can do without sleep for once. +The children are taken on board in all their finery, and friends join +and musicians with their instruments. Then all sails are spread again +and the boats start for a circuit round the harbour. The wind blows +fiercely from the north, and each buoyant _muchwa_ scuds along at a +fearful pace, heeling over until the rippling water fingers the edge of +the gunwale as if it were just getting ready to leap over and take +possession. But the hilarious Koli balances himself on the sloping +thwarts and jumps and sings and claps his hands, while the pipes screech +and the drums rattle. Twice, or three times, does the whole fleet go out +over the bar and wheel and return, each boat racing to be first, with no +more sense of danger than a porpoise at play. + +At last they have had enough. The sails are furled and the boats +beached, the big fishes are taken down from the bows, and the whole +crowd, with their trophies and garlands, dance their way to the village. +There it is better that we leave them. To-night great fires will be +lighted in the middle of the main road and capacious pots of toddy will +be at hand, and every merry Koli will get hilariously drunk and do and +say things which we had better not see and hear. And the children will +look on and try to imitate their elders. And women will find it best to +keep out of the way for the sake of their pretty dresses, if there were +no better reason. For pots of water dyed crimson with _goolal_ powder +are ready, and everybody has licence to splash everybody when he gets a +chance. Any time during the next two or three days you may find your own +servants coming home dappled with red. + +So the ape has his fling. And the tiger is lurking not far behind. In +each of those fires it is the proper thing to roast a cock, throwing him +in alive. If the fire is a great one, a general village fire, then it is +still greater fun to throw in a live goat. But the worst of these +ceremonies are happily going out of fashion. For the English law is +stern, and the _sahibs_ have strange and quixotic notions about cruelty +to animals, and although they are far away on tour at this season and no +native officer would voluntarily interfere with an immemorial custom, +still the tiger walks in fear in these days and the Koli is often +content to roast a coconut as proxy for a cock or a goat. + + + + +XVIII + + +INDIAN POVERTY + +THE STANDARD OF LIVING + +When Mr. Keir Hardie was in India he satisfied himself that the standard +of living among the working classes in India has been deteriorating. +This is interesting psychologically, and one would like to know by what +means Mr. Keir Hardie attained to satisfaction on such a great and +important question. Doubtless he had the ungrudging assistance of Mr. +Chowdry. + +The poverty of India has for a good many years been a handy weapon, like +the sailor's belaying pin, for everyone who wanted to "have at" our +administration of that country; and if "a lie which is half a truth is +ever the blackest of lies," then this one must be as black as Tartarus, +for it is indubitably more than half a truth. The common field-labourer +in India is about as poor as man can be. He is very nearly as poor as a +sparrow. His hut, built by himself, is scarcely more substantial or +permanent than the sparrow's nest, and his clothing compares very +unfavourably with the sparrow's feathers. The residue of his worldly +goods consists of a few cooking pots and, it must be admitted, a few +ornaments on his wife. + +But a sparrow is usually well fed and quite happy. It has no property +simply because it wants none. If it stored honey like the busy bee, or +nuts like the thrifty squirrel, it would be a prey to constant anxiety +and stand in hourly danger of being plundered of its possessions, and +perhaps killed for the sake of them. Therefore to speak of a Hindu's +poverty as if it certainly implied want and unhappiness is mere +misrepresentation born of ignorance. In all ages there have been men so +enamoured of the possessionless life that they have abandoned their +worldly goods and formed brotherhoods pledged to lifelong poverty. The +majority of religious beggars in India belong to brotherhoods of this +kind, and are the sturdiest and best-fed men to be seen in the country, +especially in time of famine. + +But the Hindu peasant is not a begging friar, and may be supposed to +have some share of the love of money which is common to humanity; so it +is worth while to inquire why he is normally so very poor. There are two +reasons, both of which are so obvious and have so often been pointed out +by those who have known him best, that there is little excuse for +overlooking them. The first of them is thus stated in Tennant's _Indian +Recreations_, written in 1797, before British rule had affected the +people of India much in one direction or another. "Industry can hardly +be ranked among their virtues. Among all classes it is necessity of +subsistence and not choice that urges to labour; a native will not earn +six rupees a month by working a few hours more, if he can live upon +three; and if he has three he will not work at all," Such was the Hindu +a century ago in the eyes of an observant and judicious man, studying +him with all the sympathetic interest of novelty, and such he is now. + +The other reason for the chronic poverty of the Indian peasant is that, +if he had money beyond his immediate necessity, he could not keep it. It +is the despair of the Government of India and of every English official +who endeavours to improve his condition that he cannot keep his land, or +his cattle, or anything else on which his permanent welfare depends. The +following extract from _The Reminiscences of an Indian Police Official_ +gives a lively picture of the effect of unaccustomed wealth, not on +peasants, but on farmers owning land and cattle and used to something +like comfort. + +"Yellapa, like all cotton growers in that part of the Western +Presidency, profited enormously by the high price of the staple during +the American war. Silver was poured into the country (literally) in +_crores_ (millions sterling), and cultivators who previously had as much +as they could do to live, suddenly found themselves possessed of sums +their imagination had never dreamt of. What to do with their wealth, how +to spend their cash was their problem. Having laden their women and +children with ornaments, and decked them out in expensive _sarees_, they +launched into the wildest extravagance in the matter of carts and +trotting bullocks, going even as far as silver-plated yokes and harness +studded with silver mountings. Even silver tyres to the wheels became +the fashion. Twelve and fifteen rupees were eagerly paid for a pair of +trotting bullocks. Trotting matches for large stakes were common; and +the whole rural population appeared with expensive red silk umbrellas, +which an enterprising English firm imported as likely to gratify the +general taste for display. Many took to drink, not country liquors such +as had satisfied them previously, but British brandy, rum, gin, and even +champagne." + +A few pages further on the author tells us of the ruin by debt and +drunkenness of the families which had indulged in these extravagances. +The fact is that to keep for to-morrow what is in the hand to-day +demands imagination, purpose and self-discipline, which the Hindu +working man has not. He is the product of centuries, during which his +rulers made the life of to-morrow too uncertain, while his climate made +the life of to-day too easy. No outward applications will alone cure his +poverty, because it is a symptom of an inward disease. + +When a healthier state of mind shall awaken an appetite for comforts and +conveniences, and create necessities unknown to his fathers, then +degrading poverty will no longer be possible as the common lot. And it +was to be hoped that the British rule would in time have this happy +effect. Tennant evidently thought that it had begun to do so even in his +day. "The existence," he says, "of a regular British Government is but a +recent circumstance; yet in the course of a few years complete security +has been afforded to all of its dependants; many new manufactures have +been established, many more have been extended to answer the demands of +a larger exportation. We have therefore conferred upon our Asiatic +subjects an increase of security, of industry and of produce, and of +consequent greater means of enjoyment." + +It is therefore a very grave charge that Mr. Keir Hardie brings against +the British Administration when he says, a century after these words +were written, that the standard of living among the Hindu peasantry has +deteriorated. Happily there does not appear to have been a close +relation between facts and Mr. Keir Hardie's conclusions during his +Indian tour, so we may continue to put our confidence in the many +hopeful indications that exist of a distinct improvement in the ideal of +life which has so long prevailed among our poor Indian fellow-subjects. +The rise in the wages of both skilled and unskilled labour during even +the last thirty years, especially in and near important towns, has been +most remarkable. + +It is more to the point to know what the labourer is able to do and +actually does with his wages, and here the returns of trade and the +reports of the railway companies, post office and savings bank have +striking evidence to offer. They are published annually, and anyone, +even Mr. Keir Hardie, may consult them who likes his facts in +statistical form. For those who live in India there are abundant +evidences with more colour in them. Some thirty years ago, or more, +there was a steamship company in Bombay owning two small steamers which +carried passengers across the harbour. By degrees it extended its +operations and increased its fleet until it had a daily service of fast +steamers, with accommodation for nearly a thousand third-class +passengers, which went down the coast as far as Goa, calling at every +petty port on the way. The head of the firm retired some years ago, +having made his pile. Seldom has a more profitable enterprise been +started in Bombay. And whence did the profits come? From the pockets of +Hindu peasants. The Mahrattas of the Ratnagiri District supply most of +the "labour" required in Bombay, and for these the company spread its +nets. And by their incessant coming and going it amassed its wealth. + +Heads of mercantile firms and Government offices, and all who have to +deal with the Mahratta "puttiwala," viewed its success without surprise. +Though always grumbling at his wages, he never appears to be without the +means and the will to travel. A marriage, a religious ceremony in his +family, or the death of some relative, requires his immediate presence +in his village, and he asks for leave. If he cannot get it otherwise, he +offers to forfeit his pay for the period. If it is still refused, he +resigns his situation and goes. This does not indicate pinching poverty; +there must be some margin between such men and starvation. And a saunter +through their villages will amply confirm such a surmise. + +It is no uncommon thing in these coast villages to see that foreign +luxury, a chair, perhaps even an easy-chair, in the verandah of a common +Bhundaree (toddy-drawer). The rapidly growing use of chairs, glass +tumblers, enamelled ironware, soda-water and lemonade, patent medicines, +and even cheap watches, declares plainly that the young Hindu of the +present day does not live as his fathers did. Men go better dressed, and +their children are clothed at an earlier age. The advertisements in +vernacular languages that one meets with, circulated and posted up in +all sorts of places, tell the same tale convincingly; for the advertiser +knows his business, and will not angle where no fish rise. + +Nor are large towns like Bombay the only places where the Hindu peasant +widens his horizon and acquires new tastes. In the Fiji Islands there +are about 22,000 natives of India who went out as indentured coolies +with the option of returning at the end of five years at their own +expense, or after ten years at that of Government. When these men come +home, they bring with them new tastes and new ideas, as well as the +habit of saving money and thousands of rupees saved during their short +exile. In Mauritius and South Africa the Hindu working man is learning +the same lessons. When he gets back to the sleepy life of his native +village, he is not likely to settle down contentedly at the level from +which he started. + +On every hand, in short, forces are at work stirring discontent in the +breasts of the younger generation with the existence which was the +heritage of their fathers. These forces operate from the outside, and +the mass is large and very inert: it would be rash to say that in the +heart of it there are not still millions who regard a monotonous +struggle for a bare existence as their portion from Providence. But when +a man who has travelled in India for half a cold season tells us that +the standard of living in India has deteriorated, we are tempted to +quote from Sir Ali Baba: "What is it that these travelling people put on +paper? Let me put it in the form of a conundrum. Q. What is it that the +travelling M.P. treasures up and the Anglo-Indian hastens to throw away? +A. Erroneous hazy, distorted impressions." "One of the most serious +duties attending a residence in India is the correcting of those +misapprehensions which your travelling M.P. sacrifices his bath to +hustle upon paper." + + + + +XIX + + +BORROWED INDIAN WORDS + +Of the results of the Roman supremacy in Britain none have been so +permanent as their influence on our language. No doubt this was less due +to any direct effect that their residence among the Britons had at the +time on vernacular speech than to the fact that, for many centuries +after their departure, Latin was the language, throughout Europe, of +literature and scholarship. Our supremacy in India is acting on the +languages of that country in both ways, and though it has scarcely +lasted half as long yet as the Roman rule in Britain, English already +bids fair to become one day the common tongue of the Hindus. But there +is also a current flowing the other way, comparatively insignificant, +but curious and interesting. + +Few persons in England are aware how often they use words of Indian +origin in common speech. In attempting to give a list of these I will +exclude the trade names of articles of Indian produce or manufacture, +which have no literary interest, and also words which indicate objects, +ideas or customs that are not English, and therefore have no English +equivalents, such as "tom-tom," "sepoy" and "suttee," I will also omit +Indian words, such as "bundobust," and "griffin," which are used by +writers like Thackeray in the same way in which French terms are +commonly introduced into English composition. + +Of course, it is not always possible to draw a hard and fast line. There +are words which first came into England as the trade names of Indian +products, but have extended their significance, or entirely changed it, +and taken a permanent place in the English language. Pepper still means +what it originally meant, but it has also become a verb. Another example +is Shawl, a word which has lost all trace of its Oriental origin. It is +a pure Hindustani word, pronounced "Shal," and indicating an article +thus described in the seventeenth century by Thevenot, as quoted in +Hobson-Jobson:--"Une Chal, qui est une maniere de toilette d'une laine +très fine qui se fait a Cachmir." With the article to England came the +name, but soon spread itself over all fabrics worn in the same fashion, +except the Scotch plaid, which held its own. + +Somewhat similar is Calico, originally a fine cotton cloth imported from +Calicut. This place is called Calicot by the natives, and may have +dropped the final T through the influence of French dressmakers. Chintz +is another example, being the Hindustani word "cheent," which means a +spotted cotton cloth. In trade fabrics are always described in the +plural, and the Z in Chintz is no doubt a perversion, through +misunderstanding, of the terminal S. Lac is another Indian word which +has retained its own meaning, but it has gone beyond it and given rise +to a verb "to lacquer." + +With these perhaps should be mentioned Pyjamas and Shampoo, both of +which have undergone strange perversions. Pyjama is an Indian name for +loose drawers or trousers tied with a cord round the waist, such as +Mussulmans of both sexes wear. In India the Pyjama was long ago adopted, +with a loose coat to match, as a more decent and comfortable costume +than the British nightshirt, and when Anglo-Indians retired they brought +the fashion home with them, English tailors called the whole costume a +"Pyjama suit," but the second word was soon dropped and the first +improved into the plural number. + +"Shampoo" comes from a verb "champna," to press or squeeze, and the +imperative, "champo," as often happens, was the form in which it became +English. Forbes, in his _Oriental Memoirs_, writes of "the effects of +opium, champoing and other luxuries indulged in by Oriental +sensualists." When the medical profession in England began to patronise +the practice, it assumed a more dignified name, "massage," and the old +word was relegated to the hairdressers, who appropriated it to the +washing of the head, an operation with which the word has no proper +relation at all. + +There are two words of doubtful derivation, which may be mentioned in +this connection. Cot, in the sense of a light bed, or cradle, is not +much used in England, but is given in Webster's and other dictionaries, +with the same Saxon derivation, as the "cot beside the hill" which the +poet Rogers sighed for. If this is correct, then it is at least curious +that the word should have almost gone out of use in England and revived +in India from a distinct root. There it is the term in every-day use for +any rough bedstead, such as the natives sleep on and call a khat. The +average Englishman cannot aspirate a K, and never pronounces the Indian +A aright unless it is followed by an R, so khat becomes "cot" by a +process of which there are many illustrations. + +The other doubtful word mentioned above is Teapoy. It is defined in the +dictionaries as an ornamental table, with a folding top, containing +caddies for holding tea, but in India, where it is in much more general +use than it is in England, it signifies simply a light tripod table and +almost certainly comes from "teenpai" (three-foot), corresponding to +another common word, "charpai" (four-foot), which means a native +bedstead. The fact that it is sometimes spelled Tepoy confirms this, but +the other spelling is commoner, and appears to have led to its getting a +special meaning connected with tea among furniture sellers. + +Cheroot, Bangle, Curry and Kidgeree are examples of words which have +come to us with the things which they signify, and retain their meaning +though the thing itself may have undergone some change. Curry as made in +England is sometimes not recognisable by a new arrival from India, and +Kidgeree is applied to a preparation of rice and fish, whereas it means +properly a dish of rice, split peas and butter, or "ghee." Fish may be +eaten with it, but is not an ingredient of it. Bazaar may be classed +with these words, and also Polo, which is merely the name for a polo +ball in the language of one of the Himalayan tribes from whom we learned +the game. It is said to have been played in England for the first time +at Aldershot in 1871. + +More interest attaches to Gymkhana, for neither the word nor the thing +which it signifies is Indian, though both originated in India, and the +derivation of the word is unknown, though it is scarcely fifty years +old. Several hybrid derivations have been suggested, none of them +probable, and I lean to the suggestion that the starting-point of the +word may have been "jumkhana", a term which, though it is not in +Forbes's _Hindustani Dictionary,_ I have heard a native apply to a large +cotton carpet, such as native acrobats, or wrestlers, might spread when +about to give a performance. Our use of the words Arena, Stage, Boards, +Footlights, etc., shows how easily a carpet might give name to a place +of meeting for athletic exercises. + +There is another class of words which have come into England through +returned Anglo-Indians and spread by their own merit. One of these is +Loot. The dictionary says that it means "to plunder," but it holds more +than that or any equivalent English word. Perhaps it has scarcely risen +above the level of slang yet, but the phrase "to run amuck" is +classical, having been used by both Pope and Dryden. The pedantic +attempt made by some writers to change the common way of writing it +because the original Malay term is a single word, "amok," comes too late +in view of Dryden's line, + + "And runs an Indian muck at all he meets." + +Cheese, in the sense of a thing, or rather of "the very thing," must be +ranked as slang too, though very common. The slang dictionaries give +fanciful derivations from Anglo-Saxon roots, or suggest that it is a +perversion of "chose"; but it is a common Hindustani word for a thing, +and when an Englishman in India finds some article which exactly suits +his purpose and exclaims, "Ah! that's the cheese," no one needs to ask +the derivation. If it did not come to us directly from India, then it +came through the gipsies, for it is one of the many Hindustani words +which occur in their language. Another word that came from India +indirectly is Caste, but it is of Portuguese origin. The early +Portuguese writers applied it ("casta") to the hereditary division of +Hindu society, and the English adopted it. It has now become +indispensable. We have no other word that could take its place in the +lines, + + Her manners had not that repose + Which stamps the caste of Vere de Vere. + +I must close with two familiar words which have been so long with us +that few who use them ever suspect that they came from the East--namely, +Punch and Toddy. The Rev. J. Ovington, who sailed to Bombay in 1689, in +the ship that carried the glad news of the coronation of William and +Mary, tells us that, in the East India Company's chief factory at Surat, +the common table was supplied with "plenty of generous Sherash (Shiraz) +wine and arak Punch," Arrack (properly "Urk"), sometimes abbreviated to +Rack, means any distilled spirit, or essence, but is commonly used to +distinguish country liquor from imported spirits. The Company's factors +drank it because European wines and beer were at that time very +expensive in India, and to reconcile it to their palates they made it +into a brew called Punch, from the Indian word "panch," meaning five, +because it contained five ingredients--viz. arrack, hot water, limes, +sugar and spice. This was the ordinary drink of poor Englishmen in India +for a longtime, and public "Punch-houses" existed in every settlement of +the East India Company. + +Now, one of the principal substances from which country liquor is +distilled is palm juice, the native name for which, "tadee," has been +perverted into "toddy" (as in the case of "cot" above-mentioned), and +"toddy punch" meant the same thing as "arrack punch," Returning +Anglo-Indians brought the receipt for making this brew to England, and +lovers of Vanity Fair will remember how the whole course of that story +was changed by the bowl of "rack punch" which Joseph Sedley ordered at +Vauxhall, where "everybody had rack punch." How soon both the brew and +its Indian name took firm root and spread among us appears from the fact +that, at the Holy Fair described by Burns in the century before last, +the lads and lasses sit round a table and "steer about the toddy." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Concerning Animals and Other Matters +by E.H. 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Aitken ("Eha"). +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 12pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + P.cont { margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 12pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + PRE { font-family: Courier, monospaced; } + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; + text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + .poem .author {text-align: right;} + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Concerning Animals and Other Matters +by E.H. Aitken, (AKA Edward Hamilton) + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Concerning Animals and Other Matters + +Author: E.H. Aitken, (AKA Edward Hamilton) + +Release Date: February 6, 2004 [EBook #10962] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONCERNING ANIMALS *** + + + + +Produced by Garrett Alley and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/002.png" width="600" height="817" +alt="Portrait of 'Eha.'"> +</center> + +<h1>CONCERNING ANIMALS AND OTHER MATTERS</h1> +<center> +<b>BY E.H. AITKEN ("EHA") </b> +</center> +<center> +AUTHOR OF "FIVE WINDOWS OF THE SOUL," "TRIBES ON MY FRONTIER," ETC. +</center> +<center> +WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR BY +</center> +<center> +SURGEON-GENERAL W.B. BANNERMAN I.M.S., C.S.I. +</center> +<center> +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY J A. SHEPHERD AND A PORTRAIT +</center> +<center> +LONDON +</center> +<center> +JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. +</center> +<center> +1914 +</center> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<hr> + +<a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a> +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> + +<pre> + <a href="#ILL">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</a> + <a href="#INT">INTRODUCTION</a> + <a href="#RULE4_2">I FEET AND HANDS</a> + <a href="#RULE4_3">II BILLS OF BIRDS</a> + <a href="#RULE4_4">III TAILS</a> + <a href="#RULE4_5">IV NOSES</a> + <a href="#RULE4_51">V EARS</a> + <a href="#RULE4_6">VI TOMMY</a> + <a href="#RULE4_7">VII THE BARN OWL</a> + <a href="#RULE4_8">VIII DOMESTIC ANIMALS</a> + <a href="#RULE4_9">IX SNAKES</a> + <a href="#RULE4_101">X THE INDIAN SNAKE-CHARMER</a> + <a href="#RULE4_10">XI CURES FOR SNAKE-BITE</a> + <a href="#RULE4_11">XII THE COBRA BUNGALOW</a> + <a href="#RULE4_12">XIII THE PANTHER I DID NOT SHOOT</a> + <a href="#RULE4_13">XIV THE PURBHOO</a> + <a href="#RULE4_14">XV THE COCONUT TREE</a> + <a href="#RULE4_15">XVI THE BETEL NUT</a> + <a href="#RULE4_16">XVII A HINDU FESTIVAL</a> + <a href="#RULE4_17">XVIII INDIAN POVERTY</a> + <a href="#RULE4_18">XIX BORROWED INDIAN WORDS</a> +</pre> +<p> +Special thanks are due to the Editors and Proprietors of the <i>Strand +Magazine, Pall Mall Magazine</i> and <i>Times of India</i> for their courtesy in +permitting the reprinting of the articles in this book which originally +appeared in their columns. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="ILL"><!-- ILL --></a> +<h2> + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</h2> + +<H3> +HALF-TONES +</H3> +<p>1. <a href="#image-1"> +Portrait of 'Eha.' +</a></p> +<p>2. <a href="#image-4"> +The Nose of the Elephant Becoming a Hand Has Redeemed Its Mind +</a></p> +<p>3. <a href="#image-6"> +Good for any Rough Job +</a></p> +<p>4. <a href="#image-9"> +Here the Competition Has Been Very Keen indeed. +</a></p> +<p>5. <a href="#image-12"> +A Blackbird and a Starling—the one Lifts Its Skirts, While the Other Wears a Walking Dress. +</a></p> +<p>6. <a href="#image-15"> +The Nostrils of the Apteryx Are at the Tip of Its Beak. +</a></p> +<p>7. <a href="#image-18"> +The Long-Nosed Monkey. +</a></p> + + + +<H3> +LINE BLOCKS +</H3> +<p>8. <a href="#image-2"> +An Authentic Standard Foot. +</a></p> +<p>9. <a href="#image-3"> +These Beasts Are All Clodhoppers, and their Feet Are Hobnailed Boots. +</a></p> +<p>10. <a href="#image-5"> +It Has to Double them Under and Hobble About Like a Chinese Lady. +</a></p> +<p>11. <a href="#image-7"> +No Doubt Each Bird Swears by Its Own Pattern. +</a></p> +<p>12. <a href="#image-8"> +Its Bill Deserves Study +</a></p> +<p>13. <a href="#image-10"> +As Wonderful As the Pelican, But How Opposite! +</a></p> +<p>14. <a href="#image-11"> +There Are Some Eccentrics, Such As Jenny Wren, Which Have Despised their Tails. +</a></p> +<p>15. <a href="#image-13"> +At the Sight of a Rival the Dog Holds Its Tail up Stiffly +</a></p> +<p>16. <a href="#image-14"> +A Shrew Can Do It, But Not a Man. +</a></p> +<p>17. <a href="#image-16"> +A Bold attempt to Grow in the Case of a Tapir +</a></p> +<p>18. <a href="#image-17"> +I Have Seen Human Noses of a Pattern Not Unlike This, But they Are Not Considered Aristocratic. +</a></p> +<p>19. <a href="#image-19"> +Who Can Consider That Nose Seriously? +</a></p> +<p>20. <a href="#image-20"> +Or Perhaps when It Wants to Listen It Raises a Flipper to Its Ear. +</a></p> +<p>21. <a href="#image-21"> +'Tear out the House Like the Dogs Wuz atter Him.' +</a></p> +<p>22. <a href="#image-22"> +A Great Catholic Congress of Distinguished Ears. +</a></p> +<p>23. <a href="#image-23"> +The Curls of a Mother's Darling. +</a></p> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="INT"><!-- INT --></a> +<h2> + INTRODUCTION +</h2> + +<center> +"EHA" +</center> +<p> +Edward Hamilton Aitken, the author of the following sketches, was well +known to the present generation of Anglo-Indians, by his pen-name of +Eha, as an accurate and amusing writer on natural history subjects. +Those who were privileged to know him intimately, as the writer of this +sketch did, knew him as a Christian gentleman of singular simplicity and +modesty and great charm of manner. He was always ready to help a +fellow-worker in science or philanthropy if it were possible for him to +do so. Thus, indeed, began the friendship between us. For when plague +first invaded India in 1896, the writer was one of those sent to Bombay +to work at the problem of its causation from the scientific side, +thereby becoming interested in the life history of rats, which were +shown to be intimately connected with the spread of this dire disease. +Having for years admired Eha's books on natural history—<i>The Tribes on +my Frontier, An Indian Naturalist's Foreign Policy</i>, and <i>The +Naturalist on the Prowl</i>, I ventured to write to him on the subject of +rats and their habits, and asked him whether he could not throw some +light on the problem of plague and its spread, from the naturalist's +point of view. +</p> +<p> +In response to this appeal he wrote a most informing and characteristic +article for <i>The Times of India</i> (July 19, 1899), which threw a flood of +light on the subject of the habits and characteristics of the Indian rat +as found in town and country. He was the first to show that <i>Mus +rattus</i>, the old English black rat, which is the common house rat of +India outside the large seaports, has become, through centuries of +contact with the Indian people, a domestic animal like the cat in +Britain. When one realises the fact that this same rat is responsible +for the spread of plague in India, and that every house is full of them, +the value of this naturalist's observation is plain. Thus began an +intimacy which lasted till Eha's death in 1909. +</p> +<p> +The first time I met Mr. Aitken was at a meeting of the Free Church of +Scotland Literary Society in 1899, when he read a paper on the early +experiences, of the English in Bombay. The minute he entered the room I +recognised him from the caricatures of himself in the <i>Tribes</i>. The +long, thin, erect, bearded man was unmistakable, with a typically Scots +face lit up with the humorous twinkle one came to know so well. Many a +time in after-years has that look been seen as he discoursed, as only he +could, on the ways of man and beast, bird or insect, as one tramped +with him through the jungles on the hills around Bombay during week-ends +spent with him at Vehar or elsewhere. He was an ideal companion on such +occasions, always at his best when acting the part of <i>The Naturalist on +the Prowl.</i> +</p> +<p> +Mr. Aitken was born at Satara in the Bombay Presidency on August 16, +1851. His father was the Rev. James Aitken, missionary of the Free +Church of Scotland. His mother was a sister of the Rev. Daniel Edward, +missionary to the Jews at Breslau for some fifty years. He was educated +by his father in India, and one can well realise the sort of education +he got from such parents from the many allusions to the Bible and its +old Testament characters that one constantly finds used with such effect +in his books. His farther education was obtained at Bombay and Poona. He +passed M.A. and B.A. of Bombay University first on the list, and won the +Homejee Cursetjee prize with a poem in 1880. From 1870 to 1876 he was +Latin Reader in the Deccan College at Poona, which accounts for the +extensive acquaintance with the Latin classics so charmingly manifest in +his writings. That he was well grounded in Greek is also certain, for +the writer, while living in a chummery with him in Bombay in 1902, saw +him constantly reading the Greek Testament in the mornings without the +aid of a dictionary. +</p> +<p> +He entered the Customs and Salt Department of the Government of Bombay +in April 1876, and served in Kharaghoda (the Dustypore of the <i>Tribes</i>), +Uran, North Kanara and Goa Frontier, Ratnagiri, and Bombay itself. In +May, 1903, he was appointed Chief Collector of Customs and Salt Revenue +at Karachi, and in November, 1905, was made Superintendent in charge of +the District Gazetteer of Sind. He retired from the service in August +1906. +</p> +<p> +He married in 1883 the daughter of the Rev. J. Chalmers Blake, and left +a family of two sons and three daughters. +</p> +<p> +In 1902 he was deputed, on special duty, to investigate the prevalence +of malaria at the Customs stations along the frontier of Goa, and to +devise means for removing the Salt Peons at these posts, from the +neighbourhood of the anopheles mosquito, by that time recognised as the +cause of the deadly malaria, which made service on that frontier dreaded +by all. +</p> +<p> +It was during this expedition that he discovered a new species of +anopheline mosquito, which after identification by Major James, I.M.S., +was named after him <i>Anopheles aitkeni</i>. During his long service there +are to be found in the Annual Reports of the Customs Department frequent +mention of Mr. Aitken's good work, but it is doubtful whether the +Government ever fully realised what an able literary man they had in +their service, wasting his talent in the Salt Department. On two +occasions only did congenial work come to him in the course of his +public duty—namely, when he was sent to study, from the naturalist's +point of view, the malarial conditions prevailing on the frontier of +Goa; and when during the last two years of his service he was put in +literary charge of <i>The Sind Gazetteer</i>. In this book one can see the +light and graceful literary touch of Eha frequently cropping up amidst +the dry bones of public health and commercial statistics, and the book +is enlivened by innumerable witty and philosophic touches appearing in +the most unlikely places, such as he alone could enliven a dull subject +with. Would that all Government gazetteers were similarly adorned! But +there are not many "Ehas" in Government employ in India. +</p> +<p> +On completion of this work he retired to Edinburgh, where most of the +sketches contained in this volume were written. He was very happy with +his family in his home at Morningside, and was beginning to surround +himself with pets and flowers, as was his wont all his life, and to get +a good connection with the home newspapers and magazines, when, alas! +death stepped in, and he died after a short illness on April 25, 1909. +</p> +<p> +He was interested in the home birds and beasts as he had been with those +in India, and the last time the writer met him he was taking home some +gold-fish for his aquarium. A few days before his death he had found his +way down to the Morningside cemetery, where he had been enjoying the +sunshine and flowers of Spring, and he remarked to his wife that he +would often go there in future to watch the birds building their nests. +</p> +<p> +Before that time came, he was himself laid to rest in that very spot in +sure and certain hope of a blessed resurrection. +</p> +<p> +The above imperfect sketch fails to give the charm and magnetic +attraction of the man, and for this one must go to his works, which for +those who knew him are very illuminating in this respect. In them one +catches a glimpse of his plan for keeping young and cheerful in "the +land of regrets," for one of his charms was his youthfulness and +interest in life. He refused to be depressed by his lonely life. "I am +only an exile," he remarks, "endeavouring to work a successful existence +in Dustypore, and not to let my environment shape me as a pudding takes +the shape of its mould, but to make it tributary to my own happiness." +He therefore urges his readers to cultivate a hobby. +</p> +<p> +"It is strange," he says, "that Europeans in India know so little, see +so little, care so little, about all the intense life that surrounds +them. The boy who was the most ardent of bug-hunters, or the most +enthusiastic of bird-nesters in England, where one shilling will buy +nearly all that is known, or can be known, about birds or butterflies, +maintains in this country, aided by Messrs. B. &. S., an unequal strife +with the insupportableness of an <i>ennui</i>-smitten life. Why, if he would +stir up for one day the embers of the old flame, he could not quench it +again with such a prairie of fuel around him. I am not speaking of +Bombay people, with their clubs and gymkhanas and other devices for +oiling the wheels of existence, but of the dreary up-country exile, +whose life is a blank, a moral Sahara, a catechism of the Nihilist +creed. What such a one needs is a hobby. Every hobby is good—a sign of +good and an influence for good. Any hobby will draw out the mind, but +the one I plead for touches the soul too, keeps the milk of human +kindness from souring, puts a gentle poetry into the prosiest life. That +all my own finer feelings have not long since withered in this land of +separation from 'old familiar faces,' I attribute partly to a pair of +rabbits. All rabbits are idiotic things, but these come in and sit up +meekly and beg a crust of bread, and even a perennial fare of village +<i>moorgee</i> cannot induce me to issue the order for their execution and +conversion into pie. But if such considerations cannot lead, the +struggle for existence should drive a man in this country to learn the +ways of his border tribes. For no one, I take it, who reflects for an +instant will deny that a small mosquito, with black rings upon a white +ground, or a sparrow that has finally made up its mind to rear a family +in your ceiling, exercises an influence on your personal happiness far +beyond the Czar of the Russias. It is not a question of scientific +frontiers—the enemy invades us on all, sides. We are plundered, +insulted, phlebotomised under our own vine and fig-tree. We might make +head against the foe if we laid to heart the lesson our national history +in India teaches—namely, that the way to fight uncivilised enemies is +to encourage them to cut one another's throats, and then step in and +inherit the spoil. But we murder our friends, exterminate our allies, +and then groan under the oppression of the enemy. I might illustrate +this by the case of the meek and long-suffering musk-rat, by spiders or +ants, but these must wait another day." +</p> +<p> +Again he says, "The 'poor dumb animals' can give each other a bit of +their minds like their betters, and to me their fierce and tender little +passions, their loves and hates, their envies and jealousies, and their +small vanities beget a sense of fellow-feeling which makes their +presence society. The touch of Nature which makes the whole world kin is +infirmity. A man without a weakness is insupportable company, and so is +a man who does not feel the heat. There is a large grey ring-dove that +sits in the blazing sun all through the hottest hours of the day, and +says coo-coo, coo, coo-coo, coo until the melancholy sweet monotony of +that sound is as thoroughly mixed up in my brain with 110° in the shade +as physic in my infantile memories with the peppermint lozenges which +used to 'put away the taste,' But as for these creatures, which confess +the heat and come into the house and gasp, I feel drawn to them. I +should like to offer them cooling drinks. Not that all my midday guests +are equally welcome: I could dispense, for instance, with the +grey-ringed bee which has just reconnoitred my ear for the third time, +and guesses it is a key-hole—she is away just now, but only, I fancy, +for clay to stop it up with. There are others also to which I would give +their <i>congé</i> if they would take it. But good, bad, or indifferent they +give us their company whether we want it or not." +</p> +<p> +Eha certainly found company in beasts all his life, and kept the charm +of youth about him in consequence to the end. If his lot were cast, as +it often was, in lonely places, he kept pets, and made friends besides +of many of the members of the tribes on his frontier; if in Bombay city +he consoled himself with his aquarium and the museum of the Bombay +Natural History Society. When the present writer chummed with him in a +flat on the Apollo Bunder in Bombay, he remembers well that aquarium and +the Sunday-morning expeditions to the malarious ravines at the back of +Malabar Hill to search for mosquito larvae to feed its inmates. For at +that time Mr. Aitken was investigating the capabilities for the +destruction of larvae, of a small surface-feeding fish with an +ivory-white spot on the top of its head, which he had found at Vehar in +the stream below the bund. It took him some time to identify these +particular fishes (<i>Haplochilus lineatus</i>), and in the meantime he +dubbed them "Scooties" from the lightning rapidity of their movements, +and in his own admirable manner made himself a sharer of their joys and +sorrows, their cares and interests. With these he stocked the ornamental +fountains of Bombay to keep them from becoming breeding-grounds for +mosquitoes, and they are now largely used throughout India for this very +purpose. It will be recognised, therefore, that Mr. Aitken studied +natural history not only for its own sake, but as a means of benefiting +the people of India, whom he had learned to love, as is so plainly shown +in <i>Behind the Bungalow</i>. +</p> +<p> +He was an indefatigable worker in the museum of the Bombay Natural +History Society, which he helped to found, and many of his papers and +notes are preserved for us in the pages of its excellent <i>Journal</i>, of +which he was an original joint-editor. He was for long secretary of the +Insect Section, and then president. Before his retirement he was elected +one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Aitken was a deeply religious man, and was for some twenty years an +elder in the congregation of the United Free Church of Scotland in +Bombay. He was for some years Superintendent of the Sunday School in +connection with this congregation, and a member of the Committee of the +Bombay Scottish Orphanage and the Scottish High Schools. His former +minister says of him, "He was deeply interested in theology, and +remained wonderfully orthodox in spite of" (or, as the present writer +would prefer to say, <i>because of</i>) "his scientific knowledge. He always +thought that the evidence for the doctrine of evolution had been pressed +for more than it was worth, and he had many criticisms to make upon the +Higher Critics of the Bible. Many a discussion we had, in which, against +me, he took the conservative side." +</p> +<p> +He lets one see very clearly into the workings of his mind in this +direction in what is perhaps the finest, although the least well known +of his books, <i>The Five Windows of the Soul</i> (John Murray), in which he +discourses in his own inimitable way of the five senses, and how they +bring man and beast into contact with their surroundings. It is a book +on perceiving, and shows how according as this faculty is exercised it +makes each man such as he is. The following extract from the book shows +Mr. Aitken's style, and may perhaps induce some to go to the book itself +for more from the same source. He is speaking of the moral sense. "And +it is almost a truism to say that, if a man has any taste, it will show +itself in his dress and in his dwelling. No doubt, through indolence and +slovenly habits, a man may allow his surroundings to fall far below what +he is capable of approving; but every one who does so pays the penalty +in the gradual deterioration of his perceptions. +</p> +<p> +"How many times more true is all this in the case of the moral sense? +When the heart is still young and tender, how spontaneously and sweetly +and urgently does every vision of goodness and nobleness in the conduct +of another awaken the impulse to go and do likewise! And if that impulse +is not obeyed, how certainly does the first approving perception of the +beauty of goodness become duller, until at last we may even come to hate +it where we find it, for its discordance with the 'motions of sins in +our members'! +</p> +<p> +"But not less certainly will every earnest effort to bring the life into +unison with what we perceive to be right bring its own reward in a +clearer and more joyful perception of what is right, and a keener +sensitiveness to every discord in ourselves. How all such discord may be +removed, how the chords of the heart may be tuned and the life become +music,—these are questions of religion, which are quite beyond our +scope. But I take it that every religion which has prevailed among the +children of Adam is in itself an evidence that, however debased and +perverted the moral sense may have become, the painful consciousness +that his heart is 'like sweet bells jangled' still presses everywhere +and always on the spirit of man; and it is also a conscious or +unconscious admission that there is no blessedness for him until his +life shall march in step with the music of the 'Eternal Righteousness.'" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Aitken's name will be kept green among Anglo-Indians by the +well-known series of books published by Messrs. Thacker & Co., of London +and Calcutta. They are <i>The Tribes on my Frontier, An Indian +Naturalist's Foreign Policy</i>, which was published in 1883, and of which +a seventh edition appeared in 1910. This book deals with the common +birds, beasts, and insects in and around an Indian bungalow, and it +should be put into the hands of every one whose lot is cast in India. It +will open their eyes to the beauty and interests of their surroundings +in a truly wonderful way, and may be read again and again with +increasing pleasure as one's experience of Indian life increases. +</p> +<p> +This was followed in 1889 by <i>Behind the Bungalow</i>, which describes with +charming insight the strange manners and customs of our Indian domestic +servants. The witty and yet kindly way in which their excellencies and +defects are touched off is delightful, and many a harassed <i>mem-sahib</i> +must bless Eha for showing her the humorous and human side of her life +surrounded as it is by those necessary but annoying inhabitants of the +Godowns behind the bungalow. A tenth edition of this book was published +in 1911. +</p> +<p> +<i>The Naturalist on the Prowl</i> was brought out in 1894, and a third +edition was published in 1905. It contains sketches on the same lines as +those in <i>The Tribes</i>, but deals more with the jungles, and not so much +with the immediate surroundings of the bungalow. The very smell of the +country is in these chapters, and will vividly recall memories to those +who know the country along the West Coast of India southward of Bombay. +</p> +<p> +In 1900 was published <i>The Common Birds of Bombay</i>, which contains +descriptions of the ordinary birds one sees about the bungalow or in the +country. As is well said by the writer of the obituary notice in the +<i>Journal</i> of the Bombay Natural History Society, Eha "had a special +genius for seizing the striking and characteristic points in the +appearance and behaviour of individual species and a happy knack of +translating them into print so as to render his descriptions +unmistakable. He looked upon all creatures in the proper way, as if each +had a soul and character of its own. He loved them all, and was +unwilling to hurt any of them." These characteristics are well shown in +this book, for one is able to recognise the birds easily from some +prominent feature described therein.[<a href="#note-1">1</a>] +</p> +<p> +<i>The Five Windows of the Soul</i>, published by John Murray in 1898, is of +quite another character from the above, and was regarded by its author +with great affection as the best of his books. It is certainly a +wonderfully self-revealing book, and full of the most beautiful +thoughts. A second impression appeared in the following year, and a new +and cheaper edition has just been published. The portrait of Eha is +reproduced from one taken in 1902 in a flat on the Apollo Bunder, and +shows the man as he was in workaday life in Bombay. The humorous and +kindly look is, I think, well brought out, and will stir pleasant +memories in all who knew Mr. Aitken. +</p> +<center> +W. B. B. +</center> +<p> +MADRAS, <i>January</i> 1914. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a> +<h2> + FOOTNOTES: +</h2> + +<p> +<a name="note-1"></a>[Footnote 1: The illustrations are his own work, but the blocks having +been produced in India, they do not do justice to the extreme delicacy +of workmanship and fine perception of detail which characterise the +originals, as all who have been privileged to see these will agree.] +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_2"><!-- RULE4 2 --></a> +<h2> + CONCERNING ANIMALS +</h2> + +<h3> + I +</h3> +<center> +FEET AND HANDS +</center> +<p> +It is evident that, in what is called the evolution of animal forms, the +foot came in suddenly when the backboned creatures began to live on the +dry land—that is, with the frogs. How it came in is a question which +still puzzles the phylogenists, who cannot find a sure pedigree for the +frog. There it is, anyhow, and the remarkable point about it is that the +foot of a frog is not a rudimentary thing, but an authentic standard +foot, like the yard measure kept in the Tower of London, of which all +other feet are copies or adaptations. This instrument, as part of the +original outfit given to the pioneers of the brainy, backboned, and +four-limbed races, when they were sent out to multiply and replenish the +earth, is surely worth considering well. It consists essentially of a +sole, or palm, made up of small bones and of <i>five</i> separate digits, +each with several joints. +</p> + +<a name="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/027.png" width="450" height="525" +alt="An Authentic Standard Foot."> +</center> + +<p> +In the hind foot of a frog the toes are very long and webbed from point +to point. In this it differs a good deal from the toad, and there is +significance in the difference. The "heavy-gaited toad," satisfied with +sour ants, hard beetles, and such other fare as it can easily pick up, +and grown nasty in consequence, so that nothing seeks to eat it, has +hobbled through life, like a plethoric old gentleman, until the present +day, on its original feet. The more versatile and nimble-witted frog, +seeking better diet and greater security of life, went back to the +element in which it was bred, and, swimming much, became better fitted +for swimming. The soft elastic skin between the fingers or toes is just +the sort of tissue which responds most readily to inward impulses, and +we find that the very same change has come about in those birds and +beasts which live much in water. I know that this is not the accepted +theory of evolution, but I am waiting till it shall become so. We all +develop in the direction of our tendencies, and shall, I doubt not, be +wise enough some day to give animals leave to do the same. +</p> +<p> +It seems strange that any creature, furnished with such tricky and +adaptable instruments to go about the world with, should tire of them +and wish to get rid of them, but so it happened at a very early stage. +It must have been a consequence, I think, of growing too fast. Mark +Twain remarked about a dachshund that it seemed to want another pair of +legs in the middle to prevent it sagging. Now, some lizards are so long +that they cannot keep from sagging, and their progress becomes a painful +wriggle. But if you must go by wriggling, then what is the use of legs +to knock against stems and stones? So some lizards have discarded two of +their legs and some all four. Zoologically they are not snakes, but +snakes are only a further advance in the same direction. That snakes did +not start fair without legs is clear, for the python has to this day two +tell-tale leg-bones buried in its flesh. +</p> +<p> +When we pass from reptiles to birds, lo! an astounding thing has +happened. That there were flying reptiles in the fossil ages we know, +and there are flying beasts in our own. But the wings of these are +simple mechanical alterations, which the imagination of a child, or a +savage, could explain. +</p> +<p> +The hands of a bat are hands still, and, though the fingers are hampered +by their awkward gloves, the thumbs are free. The giant fruit bats of +the tropics clamber about the trees quite acrobatically with their +thumbs and feet. +</p> +<p> +That Apollyonic monster of the prime, the pterodactyl, did even better. +Stretching on each little finger a lateen sail that would have served to +waft a skiff across the Thames, it kept the rest of its hands for other +uses. But what bearing has all this on the case of birds? Here is a +whole sub-kingdom, as they call it, of the animal world which has +unreservedly and irrevocably bartered one pair of its limbs for a +flying-machine. The apparatus is made of feathers—a new invention, +unknown to amphibian or saurian, whence obtained nobody can say—and +these are grafted into the transformed frame of the old limbs. The +bargain was worth making, for the winged bird at once soared away in all +senses from the creeping things of earth, and became a more ethereal +being; "like a blown flame, it rests upon the air, subdues it, surpasses +it, outraces it; it is the air, conscious of itself, conquering itself, +ruling itself." But the price was heavy. The bird must get through life +with one pair of feet and its mouth. But this was all the bodily +furniture of Charles François Felu, who, without arms, became a famous +artist. +</p> +<p> +A friend of mine, standing behind him in a <i>salon</i> and watching him at +work, saw him lay down his brush and, raising his foot to his head, take +off his hat and scratch his crown with his great toe. My friend was +nearly hypnotised by the sight, yet it scarcely strikes us as a wonder +when a parrot, standing on one foot, takes its meals with the other. It +is a wonder, and stamps the parrot as a bird of talent. A mine of hidden +possibilities is in us all, but those who dig resolutely into it and +bring out treasure are few. +</p> +<p> +And let us note that the art of standing began with birds. Frogs sit, +and, as far as I know, every reptile, be it lizard, crocodile, +alligator, or tortoise, lays its body on the ground when not actually +carrying it. And these have each four fat legs. Contrast the flamingo, +which, having only two, and those like willow wands, tucks up one of +them and sleeps poised high on the other, like a tulip on its stem. +</p> +<p> +Note also that one toe has been altogether discarded by birds as +superfluous. The germ, or bud, must be there, for the Dorking fowl has +produced a fifth toe under some influence of the poultry-yard, but no +natural bird has more than four. Except in swifts, which never perch, +but cling to rocks and walls, one is turned backwards, and, by a cunning +contrivance, the act of bending the leg draws them all automatically +together. So a hen closes its toes at every step it takes, as if it +grasped something, and, of course, when it settles down on its roost, +they grasp that tight and hold it fast till morning. But to birds that +do not perch this mechanism is only an encumbrance, so many of them, +like the plovers, abolish the hind toe entirely, and the prince of all +two-legged runners, the ostrich, has got rid of one of the front toes +also, retaining only two. +</p> + +<a name="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/031.png" width="300" height="308" +alt="These Beasts Are All Clodhoppers, and their Feet Are Hobnailed Boots."> +</center> + +<p> +To a man who thinks, it is very interesting to observe that beasts have +been led along gradually in the very same direction. All the common +beasts, such as cats, dogs, rats, stoats, and so on, have five ordinary +toes. On the hind feet there may be only four. But as soon as we come to +those that feed on grass and leaves, standing or walking all the while, +we find that the feet are shod with hoofs instead of being tipped with +claws. First the five toes, though clubbed together, have each a +separate hoof, as in the elephant; then the hippopotamus follows with +four toes, and the rhinoceros with practically three. These beasts are +all clodhoppers, and their feet are hobnailed boots. The more active +deer and all cattle keep only two toes for practical purposes, though +stumps of two more remain. Finally, the horse gathers all its foot into +one boot, and becomes the champion runner of the world. +</p> +<p> +It is not without significance that this degeneracy of the feet goes +with a decline in the brain, whether as cause or effect I will not +pretend to know. These hoofed beasts have shallow natures and live +shallow lives. They eat what is spread by Nature before their noses, +have no homes, and do nothing but feed and fight with each other. The +elephant is a notable exception, but then the nose of the elephant, +becoming a hand, has redeemed its mind. As for the horse, whatever its +admirers may say, it is just a great ass. There is a lesson in all this: +"from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath." +</p> +<p> +There is another dull beast which, from the point of view of the mere +systematist, seems as far removed from those that wear hoofs as it could +be, but the philosopher, considering the point at which it has arrived, +rather than the route by which it got there, will class it with them, +for its idea of life is just theirs turned topsy-turvy. The nails of the +sloth, instead of being hammered into hoofs on the hard ground, have +grown long and curved, like those of a caged bird, and become hooks by +which it can hang, without effort, in the midst of the leaves on which +it feeds. A minimum of intellect is required for such an existence, and +the sloth has lost any superfluous brain that it may have had, as well +as two, or even three, of its five toes. +</p> +<p> +To return to those birds and beasts with standard feet, I find that the +first outside purpose for which they find them serviceable is to scratch +themselves. This is a universal need. But a foot is handy in many other +ways. A hen and chickens, getting into my garden, transferred a whole +flower-bed to the walk in half an hour. Yet a bird trying to do anything +with its foot is like a man putting on his socks standing, and birds as +a race have turned their feet to very little account outside of their +original purpose. Such a simple thing as holding down its food with one +foot scarcely occurs to an ordinary bird. A hen will pull about a +cabbage leaf and shake it in the hope that a small piece may come away, +but it never enters her head to put her foot on it. In this and other +matters the parrot stands apart, and also the hawk, eagle, and owl; but +these are not ordinary birds. +</p> +<p> +Beasts, having twice as many feet as birds, have learned to apply them +to many uses. They dig with them, hold down their food with them, fondle +their children with them, paw their friends, and scratch their enemies. +One does more of one thing and another of another, and the feet soon +show the effects of the occupation, the claws first, then the muscles, +and even the bones dwindling by disuse, or waxing stout and strong. Then +the joy of doing what it can do well impels the beast further on the +same path, and its offspring after it. +</p> + +<a name="image-4"><!-- Image 4 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/034.png" width="450" height="771" +alt="The Nose of the Elephant Becoming a Hand Has Redeemed Its Mind"> +</center> + +<p> +And this leads at last to specialism. The Indian black bear is a "handy +man," like the British Tar—good all round. Its great soft paw is a very +serviceable tool and weapon, armed with claws which will take the face +off a man or grub up a root with equal ease. When a black bear has found +an ant-hill it takes but a few minutes to tear up the hard, cemented +clay and lay the deep galleries bare; then, putting its gutta-percha +muzzle to the mouth of each, it draws such a blast of air through them +that the industrious labourers are sucked into its gullet in drifts. +Afterwards it digs right down to the royal chamber, licks up the bloated +queen, and goes its way. +</p> +<p> +But there is another worker in the same mine which does not go to work +this way. The ant-eater found fat termites so satisfying that it left +all other things and devoted its life to the exploiting of anthills, and +now it has no rival at that business, but it is fit for nothing else. +Its awkward digging tools will not allow it to put the sole of its foot +to the ground, so it has to double them under and hobble about like a +Chinese lady. It has no teeth, and stupidity is the most prominent +feature of its character. It has become that poor thing, a man of one +idea. +</p> +<p> +But the bear is like a sign-post at a parting of the ways. If you +compare a brown bear with the black Indian, or sloth bear, as it is +sometimes called, you may detect a small but pregnant difference. When +the former walks, its claws are lifted, so that their points do not +touch the ground. Why? I have no information, but I know that it is not +content with a vegetarian diet, like its black relative, but hankers +after sheep and goats, and I guess that its murderous thoughts flow down +its nerves to those keen claws. It reminds me of a man clenching his +fist unconsciously when he thinks of the liar who has slandered him. +</p> + +<a name="image-5"><!-- Image 5 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/036.png" width="600" height="409" +alt="It Has to Double them Under and Hobble About Like a Chinese Lady."> +</center> + +<p> +But what ages of concentration on the thought and practice of +assassination must have been required to perfect that most awful weapon +in Nature, the paw of a tiger, or, indeed, of any cat, for they are all +of one pattern. The sharpened flint of the savage has become the +scimitar of Saladin, keeping the keenness of its edge in a velvet sheath +and flashing out only on the field of battle. Compare that paw with the +foot of a dog, and you will, perhaps, see with me that the servility and +pliancy of the slave of man has usurped a place in his esteem which is +not its due. The cat is much the nobler animal. Dogs, with wolves, +jackals, and all of their kin, love to fall upon their victim in +overwhelming force, like a rascally mob, and bite, tear, and worry until +the life has gone out of it; the tiger, rushing single-handed, with a +fearful challenge, on the gigantic buffalo, grasps its nose with one paw +and its shoulder with the other, and has broken its massive neck in a +manner so dexterous and instantaneous that scarcely two sportsmen can +agree about how the thing is done. +</p> +<p> +I have said that the foot first appeared when the backboned creatures +came out of the waters to live upon the dry land. But all mundane things +(not excepting politics) tend to move in circles, ending where they +began; and so the foot, if we follow it far enough, will take us back +into water. See how the rat—I mean our common, omnivorous, scavenging, +thieving, poaching brown rat—when it lives near a pond or stream, +learns to swim and dive as naturally as a duck. Next comes the vole, or +water-rat, which will not live away from water. Then there are water +shrews, the beaver, otter, duck-billed platypus, and a host of others, +not related, just as, among birds, there are water ousels, moorhens, +ducks, divers, etc., which have permanently made the water their home +and seek their living in it. All these have attained to web-footedness +in a greater or less degree. +</p> +<p> +That this has occurred among reptiles, beasts, and birds alike shows +what an easy, or natural, or obvious (put it as you will) modification +it is. And it has a consequence not to be escaped. Just as a man who +rides a great deal and never walks acquires a certain indirectness of +the legs, and you never mistake a jockey for a drill-sergeant, so the +web-footed beasts are not among the things that are "comely in going." +</p> +<p> +Following this road you arrive at the seal and sea-lion. Of all the feet +that I have looked at I know only one more utterly ridiculous than the +twisted flipper on which the sea-lion props his great bulk in front, +and that is the forked fly-flap which extends from the hinder parts of +the same. How can it be worth any beast's while to carry such an absurd +apparatus with it just for the sake of getting out into the air +sometimes and pushing itself about on the ice and being eaten by Polar +bears? The porpoise has discarded one pair, turned the other into decent +fins, and recovered a grace and power of motion in water which are not +equalled by the greyhound on land. Why have the seals hung back? I +believe I know the secret. It is the baby! No one knows where the +porpoise and the whale cradle their newborn infants—it is so difficult +to pry into the domestic ways of these sea-people—but evidently the +seals cannot manage it, so they are forced to return to the land when +the cares of maternity are on them. +</p> +<p> +I have called the feet of these sea beasts ridiculous things, and so +they are as we see them; but strip off the skin, and lo! there appears a +plain foot, with its five digits, each of several joints, tipped with +claws—nowise essentially different, in short, from that with which the +toad, or frog, first set out in a past too distant for our infirm +imagination. Admiration itself is paralysed by a contrivance so simple, +so transmutable, and so sufficient for every need that time and change +could bring. +</p> +<p> +There remains yet one transformation which seems simple compared with +some that I have noticed, but is more full of fate than they all; for +by it the foot becomes a hand. This comes about by easy stages. The +reason why one of a bird's four toes is turned back is quite plain: +trees are the proper home of birds, and they require feet that will +grasp branches. So those beasts also that have taken to living in trees +have got one toe detached more or less from the rest and arranged so +that it can co-operate with them to catch hold of a thing. Then other +changes quickly follow. For, in judging whether you have got hold of a +thing and how much force you must put forth to keep hold of it, you are +guided entirely by the pressure on the finger-points, and to gauge this +pressure nicely the nerves must be refined and educated. In fact, the +exercise itself, with the intent direction of the mind to the +finger-points, brings about the refinement and education in accordance +with Sandow's principle of muscle culture. +</p> +<p> +For an example of the result do not look at the gross paw of any +so-called anthropoid ape, gorilla, orang-outang, or chimpanzee, but +study the gentle lemur. At the point of each digit is a broad elastic +pad, plentifully supplied with delicate nerves, and the vital energy +which has been directed into them appears to have been withdrawn from +the growth of the claws, which have shrunk into fine nails just +shielding the fleshy tips. In short, the lemur has a hand on each of its +four limbs, and no feet at all. And as it goes about its cage—I am at +the Zoo in spirit—with a silent wonder shining out of its great eyes, +it examines things by <i>feeling</i> them with its hands. +</p> +<p> +How plainly a new avenue from the outer world into its mind has been +opened by those fingers! But how about scratching? What would be the +gain of having higher susceptibilities and keener perceptions if they +only aggravated the triumph of the insulting flea? Nay, this disaster +has been averted by reserving a good sharp claw on the forefinger (not +the thumb) of each hind hand. +</p> +<p> +The old naturalists called the apes and lemurs Quadrumana, the +"four-handed," and separated the Bimana, with one species—namely, <i>Homo +sapiens</i>. Now we have anatomy cited to belittle the difference between a +hand and a foot, and geology importuned to show us the missing link, +pending which an order has been instituted roomy enough to hold monkeys, +gorillas, and men. It is a strange perversity. How much more fitting it +were to bow in reverent ignorance before the perfect hand, taken up from +the ground, no more to dull its percipient surfaces on earth and stones +and bark, but to minister to its lord's expanding mind and obey his +creative will, while his frame stands upright and firm upon a single +pair of true feet, with their toes all in one rank. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_3"><!-- RULE4 3 --></a> +<h2> + II +</h2> + +<center> +BILLS OF BIRDS +</center> +<p> +The prospectus, or advertisement, of a certain American typewriting +machine commences by informing the public that "The —— typewriter is +founded on an idea." When I saw this phrase I secured it for my +collection, for I felt that, without jest, it contained the kernel of a +true philosophy of Nature. The forms, the <i>phainomena</i>, of Nature are +innumerable, multifarious, interwoven, and infinitely perplexing, and +you may spend a happy life in unravelling their relations and devising +their evolutions; but until you have looked through them and seen the +ideas that are behind them you are a mere materialist and a blind +worker. The soul of Nature is hid from you. +</p> +<p> +What is the bill of a bird and what does it mean? I do not refer to the +bill of a hawk, or a heron, or an owl, or an ostrich, but to that which +is the abstract of all these and a thousand more. I hold, regardless of +anatomy and physiology, that a bird is a higher being than a beast. No +beast soars and sings to its sweetheart; no beast remains in lifelong +partnership with the wife of its youth; no beast builds itself a +summer-house and decks it with feathers and bright shells. A beast is a +grovelling denizen of the earth; a bird is a free citizen of the air. +And who can say that there is not a connection between this difference +and other developments? The beast, thinking only of its appetites, has +evolved a delicate nose, a discriminating palate, three kinds of teeth +to cut, tear, and grind its food, salivary glands to moisten the same, +and a perfected apparatus of digestion. +</p> + +<a name="image-6"><!-- Image 6 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/043.png" width="450" height="593" +alt="Good for any Rough Job"> +</center> + +<p> +The bird, occupied with thoughts of love and beauty, with "fields, or +waves, or mountains" and "shapes of sky or plain," has made little +advance in the art and instruments of good living. It swallows its food +whole, scarcely knowing the taste of it, and a pair of forceps for +picking it up, tipped and cased with horn, is the whole of its dining +furniture. For the bill of a bird, primarily and essentially, is that +and nothing else. In the chickens and the sparrows that come to steal +their food, and the robin that looks on, and all the little dicky-birds, +you may see it in its simplicity. The size and shape may vary, as a +Canadian axe differs from a Scotch axe; some are short and stout and +have a sharp edge for shelling seeds; some are longer and fine-pointed, +for picking worms and caterpillars out of their hiding-places; some a +little hooked at their points, and one, that of the crossbill, with +points crossed for picking the small seeds out of fir-cones; but all +are practically the same tool. Yet the last distinctly points the way to +those modifications by which the simple bill is gradually adapted to one +special purpose or another, until it becomes a wonderful mechanism in +which the original intention is quite out of sight. +</p> +<p> +At this point I find an instructive parable in my tool chest. Fully half +of the tools are just knives. A chisel is a knife, a plane is a knife +set in a block of wood, a saw is a knife with the edge notched. +Moreover, there are many sorts of curious planes and saws, each intended +for one distinct kind of fine work. All these the joiner has need of, +but a schoolboy would rather have one good, strong pocket-knife than the +whole boxful. For, just in proportion as each tool is perfected for its +own special work, it becomes useless for any other. And your schoolboy +is not a specialist. He wants a tool that will cut a stick, carve a +boat, peel an apple, dig out a worm—in short, one that will do whatever +his active mind wants done. +</p> +<p> +Now apply this parable to the birds. If you see a bill that is nothing +but a large and powerful pair of forceps, good for any rough job, you +may know without further inquiry that the owner is no limited +specialist, but a "handy man," bold, enterprising, resourceful, and good +all round. He will not starve in the desert. No wholesome food comes +amiss to him—grub, slug, or snail, fruit, eggs, a live mouse or a dead +rat, and he can deal with them all. Such are the magpie, the crow, the +jackdaw, and all of that ilk; and these are the birds that are found in +all countries and climates, and prosper wherever they go. +</p> + +<a name="image-7"><!-- Image 7 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/046.png" width="500" height="366" +alt="No Doubt Each Bird Swears by Its Own Pattern."> +</center> + +<p> +But all birds cannot play that part. One is timid, another fastidious, +another shy but ingenious. So, in the universal competition for a +living, each has taken its own line according to the bent of its nature, +and its one tool has been perfected for its trade until it can follow no +other. The thrush catches such worms as rashly show themselves +above-ground; but an ancient ancestor of the snipe found that, if it +followed them into marshy lands, it could probe the soft ground and drag +them out of their chambers. For this operation it has now a bill three +inches long, straight, thin and sensitive at the tip, a beautiful +instrument, but good for no purpose except extracting worms from soft +ground. If frost or drought hardens the ground, the snipe must starve or +travel. Among the many "lang nebbit" birds that follow the same +profession as the snipe, some, like the curlew and the ibis, have curved +bills of prodigious length. I do not know the comparative advantages of +the two forms, but no doubt each bird swears by its own pattern, as +every golfer does by his own putter. +</p> +<p> +But now behold another grub-hunter, which, distasting mud, has +discovered an unworked mine in the trunks of trees. There, in deep +burrows, lurked great succulent beetle-grubs, demanding only a tool with +which they might be dug out. This has been perfected by many stages, and +I have now before me a splendid specimen of the most improved +pattern—namely, the bill of the great black woodpecker of Western +India, a bird nearly as big as a crow. It is nothing else than a hatchet +in two parts, which, when locked together, present a steeled edge about +three-eighths of an inch in breadth. The hatchet is two and a half +inches long by one in breadth at the base, and a prominent ridge, or +keel, runs down the top from base to point. It is further strengthened +by a keel on each side. Inside of it, ere the bird became a mummy, was +her tongue, which I myself drew out three inches beyond the point of the +bill. It was rough and tough, like gutta-percha, tipped with a fine +spike, and armed on each side, for the last inch of its length, with a +row of sharp barbs pointing backwards. The whole was lubricated with +some patent stickfast, "always ready for use." That grub must sit tight +indeed which this corkscrew will not draw when once the hatchet has +opened a way. +</p> +<p> +The swallows and swifts, untirable on their wings, but too gentle to +hold their own in a jostling crowd, soared away after the midges and +May-flies and pestilent gnats that rise from marsh and pond to hold +their joyous dances under the blue dome. Continually rushing +open-mouthed after these, they have stretched their gape from ear to +ear; but their bills have dwindled by disuse and left only an apology +for their absence. +</p> +<p> +Compared with all these, the birds that can do with a diet of fruit only +lead an easy life. They have just to pluck and eat—that is, if they are +pleased with small fruits and content to swallow them whole. But the +hornbills, being too bulky to hop among twigs, need a long reach; hence +the portentous machines which they carry on their faces. The beak of a +hornbill is nothing else than a pair of tongs long enough to reach and +strong enough to wrench off a wild fig from its thick stem. If it were +of iron it would be thin and heavy; being of cellular horn-stuff it is +bulky but light. If you ask why it should rise up into an absurd helmet +on the queer fowl's head, I cannot tell. Nature has quaint ways of using +up surplus material. +</p> + +<a name="image-8"><!-- Image 8 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/049.png" width="600" height="706" +alt="Its Bill Deserves Study"> +</center> + +<p> +An easy life begets luxury, and among fruit-eaters the parrot has become +an epicure. It will not swallow its food whole, and its bill deserves +study. In birds generally the upper mandible is more or less joined to +the skull, leaving only the lower jaw free to move. But in the parrot +the upper mandible is also hinged, so that each plays freely on the +other. The upper, as we all know, is hooked and pointed; the lower has a +sharp edge. The tongue is thick, muscular, and sensitive. The whole +makes a wonderful instrument, unique among birds, for feelingly +manipulating a dainty morsel, shelling, peeling, and slicing, until +nothing is left but the sweetest part of the core. Of all gourmands +Polly is the most shameless waster. +</p> +<p> +Long before land, trees, and air had been exploited the primitive bird +must have discovered the harvest of the waters, and here the competition +has been very keen indeed. Yet the form of bill most in use is very +simple—just a plain pair of forceps, long and sharp-pointed like +scissors. This is evidently hard to beat, for birds of many sorts use +it, handling it variously. The kingfisher plumps bodily down on the +minnow from an overhanging perch; the solan goose, soaring, plunges from +a "pernicious height"; the heron, high on its stilts, darts out a long +and serpentine neck; the diver, with similar beak and neck, but +different legs, pursues the fleeing shoals under water; to the swift and +slippery fish all are alike terrible in their certainty. +</p> +<p> +There are, however, other varieties of the fishing bill. Some have a +hook at the point, as that of the cormorant, and some are straight at +the top, but curved on the under side. This last form is handy for +storks, which do not pluck fish out of water so much, but scoop up +frogs, crabs, and reptiles from the ground. The ridiculous bill of the +puffin, or sea-parrot, is an eccentricity. There may be some idea in it, +but I suspect it is an effect of vanity merely, being coloured blue, +yellow, and red, and quite in keeping with the other absurdities of the +wearer. +</p> +<p> +Apart from all these and by itself stands a princely fisher whose bill +is no modification, but an original invention and a marvellous one. +Larger than a swan and gluttonous withal, the pelican cannot live on +single fishes. It has given up angling altogether and taken to netting; +and the way in which the net has been constructed out of the pair of +forceps provided in the original plan of its construction is as well +worth your examining as anything I know. It is a foot in length, the +upper jaw is flat and broad, while the lower consists of two thin, +elastic bones joined at the point, a mere ring to carry the curious +yellow bag that hangs from it. In pictures this is represented as a +creel in which the kind pelican carries home the children's breakfast; +you are allowed to see the tail of a big fish hanging out. But it is not +a creel; it is a net. The great birds, marshalled in line on some broad +lake or marsh, and beating the water with their wings, drive the fish +before them until they have got a dense crowd huddled in panic and +confusion between them and the shore. Now watch them narrowly. As +each monstrous bill opens, the thin bones of the lower jaw stretch +sideways to the breadth of a span by some curious mechanism not +described in the books, and at the same time the shrunken bag expands +into a deep, capacious net. Simultaneously the whole instrument is +plunged into the struggling, silvery mass and comes up full. The side +bones instantly contract again, and the upper jaw is clapped on them +like a lid. No wonder the fishermen of the East detest the pelican. +</p> + +<a name="image-9"><!-- Image 9 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/052.png" width="600" height="345" +alt="Here the Competition Has Been Very Keen indeed."> +</center> + + +<a name="image-10"><!-- Image 10 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/053.png" width="450" height="653" +alt="As Wonderful As the Pelican, But How Opposite!"> +</center> + +<p> +In the same marsh, perhaps, standing with unequalled grace upon the +longest legs known in this world, is a troop of giant birds as wonderful +as the pelican, but how opposite! The beautiful flamingo is a bird of +feeble intellect, delicate appetite, and genteel tastes. It cannot eat +fish, for its slender throat would scarcely admit a pea. Besides, the +idea of catching anything, or even picking up food from the ground, does +not occur to its simple mind. Its diet consists of certain small +crustaceans, classed by naturalists with water-fleas, which abound in +brackish water; and it has an instrument for taking these which it knows +how to use. I kept flamingos once, and, after trying many things in +vain, offered them bran, or boiled rice, floating in water. Then they +dined, and I learned the construction and working of the most marvellous +of all bills. The lower jaw is deep and hollow, and its upper edges turn +in to meet each other, so that you may fairly describe it as a pipe +with a narrow slit along the upper side. In this pipe lies the tongue, +and it cannot get out, for it is wider than the slit, but it can be +pressed against the top to close the slit, and then the lower jaw +becomes an actual pipe. The root of the tongue is furnished on both +sides with a loose fringe which we will call the first strainer. The +upper jaw is thin and flat and rests on the lower like a lid, and it is +beautifully fringed along both sides with small, leathery points, close +set, like the teeth of a very fine saw. This is the second strainer. To +work the machine you dip the point into dirty water full of water-fleas, +draw back the tip of the tongue a little, and suck in water till the +lower jaw (the pipe) is full, then close the point again with the tip of +the tongue and force the water out. It can only get out by passing +through the first strainers at the root of the tongue, then over the +palate, and so through the second strainers at the sides of the bill; +and all the solid matter it contained will remain in the mouth. The +sucking in and squirting out of the water is managed by the cheeks, or +rather by the cheek, for a flamingo has only one cheek, and that is +situated under the chin. When the bird is feeding you will see this +throbbing faster than the eye can follow it, while water squirts from +the sides of the mouth in a continuous stream. I should have said that +the whole bill is sharply bent downwards at the middle. The advantage of +this is that when the bird lets down its head into the water, like a +bucket into a well, the point of the bill does not stick in the mud, but +lies flat on it, upside down. +</p> +<p> +In conclusion, let us not fail to note, whatever be our political creed, +that, while all the birds pursue their respective industries, there sit +apart, in pride of place, some whose bills are not tools wherewith to +work, but weapons wherewith to slay. And these take tribute of the rest, +not with their consent, but of right. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_4"><!-- RULE4 4 --></a> +<h2> + III +</h2> + +<center> +TAILS +</center> +<p> +The secrets of Nature often play like an iridescence on the surface, and +escape the eye of her worshipper because it is stopped with a +microscope. There are mysteries all about us as omnipresent as the +movement of the air that lifts the smoke and stirs the leaves, which I +cannot find that any philosopher has looked into. Often and deeply have +I been impressed with this. For example, there is scarcely, in this +world, a commoner or a humbler thing than a tail, yet how multifarious +is it in aspect, in construction, and in function, a hundred different +things and yet one. Some are of feathers and some of hair, and some bare +and skinny; some are long and some are short, some stick up and some +hang down, some wag for ever and some are still; the uses that they +serve cannot be numbered, but one name covers them all. In the course of +evolution they came in with the fishes and went out with man. What was +their purpose and mission? What place have they filled in the scheme of +things? In short, what is the true inwardness of a tail? +</p> +<p> +If we try to commence—as scientific method requires—with a +definition, we stumble on a key, at the very threshold, which opens the +door. For there is no definition of a tail; it is not, in its nature, +anything at all. When an animal's fore-legs are fitted on to its +backbone at the proper distance from the hind-legs, if any of the +backbone remains over, we call it a tail. But it has no purpose; it is a +mere surplus, which a tailor (the pun is unavoidable) would have trimmed +off. And, lo! in this very negativeness lies the whole secret of the +multifarious positiveness of tails. For the absence of special purpose +is the chance of general usefulness. The ear must fulfil its purpose or +fail entirely, for it can do nothing else. Eyes, nose and mouth, hands +and feet, all have their duties; the tail is the unemployed. And if we +allow that life has had any hand in the shaping of its own destiny, then +the ingenuity of the devices for turning the useless member to account +affords one of the most exhilarating subjects of contemplation in the +whole panorama of Nature. The fishes fitted it up at once as a +twin-propeller, with results so satisfactory that the whale and the +porpoise, coming long after, adopted the invention. And be it noted that +these last and their kin are now the only ocean-going mammals in the +world. The whole tribe of paddle-steamers, such as seals and walruses +and dugongs, are only coasters. +</p> +<p> +Among those beasts that would live on the dry land, the primitive +kangaroo could think of nothing better to do with his tail than to make +a stool of it. It was a simple thought, but a happy one. Sitting up +like a gentleman, he has his hands free to scratch his ribs or twitch +his moustache. And when he goes he needs not to put them to the ground, +for his great tail so nearly equals the weight of his body that one pair +of legs keeps the balance even. And so the kangaroo, almost the lowest +of beasts, comes closer to man in his postures than any other. The +squirrel also sits up and uses his forepaws for hands, but the squirrel +is a sybarite who lies abed in cold weather, and it is every way +characteristic of him that he has sent his tail to the furrier and had +it done up into a boa, or comforter, at once warm and becoming. See, +too, how daintily he lifts it over his back to keep it clean. The rat is +a near relation of the squirrel zoologically, but personally he is a +gutter-snipe, and you may know that by one look at the tail which he +drags after him like a dirty rope. Others of the same family, cleaner, +though not more ingenious, like the guinea-pig, have simply dispensed +with the encumbrance; but the rabbit has kept enough to make a white +cockade, which it hoists when bolting from danger. This is for the +guidance of the youngsters. Nearly every kind of deer and antelope +carries the same signal, with which, when fleeing through dusky woods, +the leader shows the way to the herd and the doe to her fawn. +</p> +<p> +But of beasts that graze and browse, a large number have turned their +tails rather to a use which throws a pathetic light on misery of which +we have little experience. We do, indeed, growl at the gnats of a summer +evening and think ourselves very ill-used. How little do we know or +think of the unintermitted and unabated torment that the most harmless +classes of beasts suffer from the bands of beggars which follow them +night and day, demanding blood, and will take no refusal. Driven from +the brow they settle on the neck, shaken from the neck they dive between +the legs, and but for that far-reaching whisk at the end of the tail, +they would found a permanent colony on the flanks and defy ejection, +like the raiders of Vatersay. Darwin argues that the tail-brush may have +materially helped to secure the survival of those species of beasts that +possessed it, and no doubt he is right. +</p> +<p> +The subject is interminable, but we must give a passing glance to some +quixotic tails. The opossum scampers up a tree, carrying all her +numerous family on her back, and they do not fall off because each +infant is securely moored by its own tail to the uplifted tail of its +mother. The opossum is a very primitive beast, and so early and useful +an invention should, one would think, have been spread widely in after +time; but there appears to be some difficulty in developing muscles at +the thin end of a long tail, for the animals that have turned it into a +grasping organ are few and are widely scattered. Examples are the +chameleon among lizards, our own little harvest mouse, and, pre-eminent +above all, the American monkeys. To a howler, or spider-monkey, its +long tail is a swing and a trapeze in its forest gymnasium. Humboldt saw +(he says it) a cluster of them all hanging from a tree by one tail, +which proceeded from a Sandow in the middle. I should like to see that +too. It is worth noting, by the way, that no old-world monkey has +attained to this application of its tail. +</p> +<p> +Then there is the beaver, whose tail I am convinced is a trowel. I know +of no naturalist who has mentioned this, but such negative evidence is +of little weight. The beaver, as everybody knows, is a builder, who cuts +down trees and piles log upon log until he has raised a solid, domed +cabin from seven to twenty feet in diameter, which he then plasters over +with clay and straw. If he does not turn round and beat the work smooth +with his tail, then I require to know for what purpose he carries that +broad, heavy, and hard tool behind him. +</p> +<p> +How few even among lovers of Nature know why a frog has no tail! The +reason-is simply that it used that organ up when it was in want. In +early life, as a jolly tadpole, it had a flourishing tail to swim with, +and gills for breathing water, and an infantile mouth for taking +vegetable nourishment. But when it began to draw near to frog's estate, +serious changes were required in its structure to fit it for the life of +a land animal. Four tiny legs appeared from under its skin, the gills +gave place to air-breathing lungs, and the infant lips to a great, +gaping mouth. Now, during this "temporary alteration of the premises" +all business was of necessity stopped. The half-fish, half-frog could +neither sup like an infant nor eat like a man. In this extremity it fed +on its own tail—absorbed it as a camel is said to absorb its hump when +travelling in the foodless desert—and so it entered on its new life +without one. +</p> +<p> +Aeronautics have changed the whole perspective of life for birds, as +they may for us shortly; so it is no surprise to find that birds have, +almost with one consent, converted their tails into steering-gear. A +commonplace bird, like a sparrow, scarcely requires this except as a +brake when in the act of alighting; but to those birds with which flight +is an art and an accomplishment, an expansive forked or rounded tail +(there are two patents) is indispensable. We have shot almost all the +birds of this sort in our own country, and must travel if we would enjoy +that enchanting sight—a pair of eagles or a party of kites gone aloft +for a sail when the wind is rising, like skaters to a pond when the ice +is bearing. For an hour on end, in restful ease or swift joy, they trace +ever-varying circles and spirals against the dark storm-cloud, now +rising, now falling, turning and reversing, but never once flapping +their widespread pinions. +</p> +<p> +How is it done? How does the <i>Shamrock</i> sail? Watch, and you will see. +When the wind is behind, each stiff quill at the end of the wing stands +out by itself and is caught and driven by the blast; but as the bird +turns round to face the gale, they all close up and form a continuous +mainsail, close-hauled. And all the while the expanded tail is in play, +dipping first at one side and then at the other, and turning the trim +craft with easy grace "as the governor listeth." +</p> + +<a name="image-11"><!-- Image 11 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/063.png" width="600" height="405" +alt="There Are Some Eccentrics, Such As Jenny Wren, Which Have Despised their Tails."> +</center> + +<p> +Besides ground birds, like the quail, there are some eccentrics, such as +Jenny wren, which have despised their tails, and there are specialists +also which require them for other purposes than flying. The woodpecker's +tail is quite useless as a rudder, for he is a woodman and has altered +and adapted it for a portable stool to rest against as he plies his axe. +</p> +<p> +But that man must be very blind to the place which birds have taken in +the progress of civilisation who can suppose it possible that they +should think only of utility in such a question as the disposal of their +tails. It is a common notion among those who have acquired some +smattering of the theory of evolution that fishes developed into +reptiles, reptiles into birds, and birds into beasts; but this is as +wrong as it could be. Whatever the genealogy of the beasts may be, they +certainly were not evolved from birds, and are in many respects not +above them but below them. These are two independent branches of the +tree of living forms, as the Greeks and Romans were branches of the +stock of Japheth. The beasts may stand for the conquering Romans if you +like, but the birds are the Greeks, and have advanced far beyond them in +all emotional and artistic sensibility. They worship in the temple of +music and beauty. And, like ourselves, they have found no subject so +worthy of the highest efforts of art as their own dress. But the +clothing of the body must conform more or less to the figure, and so, +for a field in which invention and fancy may sport untrammelled, a lady +turns to her hat and a bird to its tail. And by both, with equal +heroism, every consideration of mere comfort, convenience, health, or +safety is swept aside in obedience to the higher aim. Is this only a +flippant jocularity, or is there here in very truth some profound law of +the mind revealing itself in spheres seemingly so disconnected? +</p> +<p> +Look at a peacock. Its train, by the way, is a false tail, like the +chignon of twenty years ago, or the fringe of the present day; the true +tail is under it, and serves no purpose but to support it. Now the +peacock lives on the ground, among scrub and brushwood, haunted by +jackals and wild cats. They, like soldiers in khaki, reconnoitre him in +a uniform expressly designed to elude the eye, but he flaunts a flag +resplendent with green and gold. And when his one chance of life lies in +springing nimbly from the ground and committing himself to his strong +wings, he must lift and carry this ponderous paraphernalia with him. And +the terrible Bonelli's eagle is soaring above. But all is risked proudly +for the sake of the morning hour in the glade where the ladies assemble. +And the peacock is only one of many. Not to mention the lyre bird, the +Argus pheasant, the bird of paradise, and other splendid examples, there +are common dicky-birds which point the moral and adorn the tail as +emphatically. +</p> +<p> +If the tail is a rudder, where should you look to find it in its most +simple and efficient form but among the flycatchers, which make their +living by aerial acrobatics after flies? Yet this family seems to be +peculiarly prone to the vanity of a stylish tail. The paradise +flycatcher flutters two streamers a foot long, like white ribbons, +behind it. The fantail could hide behind its own fan. The bee-eater has +the two central feathers prolonged and pointed. The drongos, which are +flycatchers in habit, wear their tails very long and deeply forked; and +one of them, the racket-tailed drongo, has the two side feathers +extended beyond the rest for nearly a foot, and as thin as wires, +expanding into a blade at the ends. I have seen nothing in ladies' hats +more preposterous. It is vain to object that there can be no proper +comparison between tails and hats because the woman chooses her own hat +while the bird has to wear what Nature has given it. I know that, but +the contention is utterly superficial. What choice has a woman as to the +style of her hat? Fashion prescribes for her, and Nature for the birds; +that is all the difference. No doubt she acquiesces when theoretically +she might rebel. The bird cannot rebel, but does it not acquiesce? Does +a lyre bird submit to its tail—wear it under protest, so to speak? +Believe me, every bird that has an aesthetic tail knows the fact, and +tries to live up to it. We may push the argument even further, for the +motmot of Brazil is not content with a ready-made tail, but actually +strips the web off the two long side feathers with its own beak, except +a little patch at the end, so as to get the pattern which Nature, if one +must use the phrase, gave to the racket-tailed drongo. A specimen is +exhibited in the hall of the South Kensington Museum. +</p> + +<a name="image-12"><!-- Image 12 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/067.png" width="600" height="428" +alt="A Blackbird and a Starling—the one Lifts Its Skirts, While the Other Wears a Walking Dress."> +</center> + +<p> +In this connection I may also say that the shape or colour of a tail is +not everything. An observant eye may find much to note in the wearing of +them. There is a stylish way of carrying a tail and a slovenly way, and +there are coquettish arts for the display of recherche tails. A +blackbird and a starling are both tidy birds, and both walk much on the +ground, but the one lifts its skirts, while the other, more practical +and less fashionable, wears a walking dress and saves itself trouble. +</p> +<p> +This line of observation leads to a higher, and reveals the most +important purpose that tails have served in the economy of beast, bird, +and reptile, and, perhaps, even cold-blooded fish. Before the godlike +countenance of man appeared on the earth, with its contractile forehead +and erectile eyebrows, the answering light of the eye, the expansive +nostrils, and subtilely mobile lips; before that the tail was the prime +vehicle of emotion and safety-valve of passion. It is a great truth, too +often buried in these days under rubbish of materialistic theories, that +some way of self-manifestation is a supreme necessity of all sentient +life. From the hot centre of thought and feeling the currents rush along +the nervous ways and pervade the whole frame, seeking an outlet. But +many passages are barred by duty, or fear, or eager purpose. A strong +gust of passion may burst all barriers and force its way out at every +point, but gentle currents flow along the lines of least resistance and +find the idle tail. I do not know a better illustration of this than a +cat watching a mouse. The ears are pricked forward, the eyes are fixed +on the unsuspecting victim, every muscle of the legs is tense, like a +bent bow ready to speed the arrow on its way. But see, the excitement +with which the whole body is charged cannot be wholly restrained, and +oozes out at the point of the tail. +</p> + +<a name="image-13"><!-- Image 13 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/069.png" width="600" height="336" +alt="At the Sight of a Rival the Dog Holds Its Tail up Stiffly"> +</center> + +<p> +Every emotion and passion takes this course. The happy kid wags its tail +as it runs to its mother, the donkey when it has executed a successful +bray, and the dog when it sees its master. At the sight of a rival the +dog holds its tail up stiffly, unless, indeed, the rival is a bigger dog +than itself, in which case the index goes down quickly between the legs. +An elated horse elevates its tail, and so does a duck in the same mood. +A lizard preparing to fight another lizard +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p> Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail,</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +and the raging lion of fiction lashes its sides with the same nervous +instrument. +</p> +<p> +It would be tedious to dwell on the pretty part which the tail plays in +the courtships of sparrows and pigeons, or on the sprightly attitudes by +which birds of all sorts let off their spirits when shower and sunshine +have overfilled their hearts with gladness. But birds twitch their tails +constantly, without meaning anything by it. The ceaseless wagging of a +wagtail is a mere habit of cheerfulness, like the twirling of her thumbs +by an idle Scotswoman. The long tail is there and something must be done +with it. Look at the embarrassment which a nervous young man shows about +the disposal of his hands; how he thrusts them into his trouser pockets, +hangs them by their thumbs from the arm-holes of his waistcoat, or gives +them a walking-stick to play with. I like to imagine what such a fellow +would do with a long tail if he had it—how he would wind it round each +leg in turn, rub up his back hair, and describe figures on the floor. +But no animal so self-conscious as man could bear up long under the +nervous strain of having to think continually of its tail. It would die +young and the race would become extinct. Perhaps it did. +</p> +<p> +A final word on the conclusion of the whole matter, for these +reflections have a moral. As habit becomes character, so expression +hardens into feature. The tail of a sheep grows downwards, but that of a +goat upwards, and this is the only infallible outward mark of +distinction between the two animals. But it is the permanent record of a +long history. The sheep was never anything but sheepish; the goat and +its forefathers were pert as kids and insolent when their beards grew. +It is useless to inquire why insolence should express itself by an +upturned tail until someone can advance a reason why it should express +itself in another way. +</p> +<p> +For proof of the fact you need go no farther than your own dogs. The +ancestral wolf, or jackal, hunting and fighting, fearing and hoping, +showed every changing mood by the pose of its tail; but a change came +when it acquired an assured position of security and importance as the +chosen companion of man, so dreaded by all its kith and kin. The tail +went up at once and stayed there; when it could go no higher, it curled +over. But promotion breeds conceit only in base natures. The greyhound +is a gentleman, respectful and self-respecting, and it shows that by the +very carriage of its tail. Only a snob at heart, petted and pampered for +many generations, could have produced that perfect incarnation of smug +self-satisfaction, the pug. Let us take the lesson home. The thoughts on +which we let our minds dwell, and the sentiments that we harbour in our +hearts, are the chisels with which we are carving out our faces and +those of our children's children. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_5"><!-- RULE4 5 --></a> +<h2> + IV +</h2> + +<center> +NOSES +</center> +<p> +Some may think that I have chosen a trivial subject, and they will look +for frivolous treatment of it. I can only hope that they will be +disappointed. There is nothing that the progress of science has taught +us more emphatically than this—that we must call nothing insignificant. +Seemingly trivial pursuits have led to discoveries which have benefited +all mankind, and priceless truths have been dug out of the most +unpromising mines. I am not insinuating that anyone's nose is an +unpromising mine, but I say that I am persuaded there is wisdom hidden +in that organ for him who will observingly distil it out. +</p> + +<a name="image-14"><!-- Image 14 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/073.png" width="600" height="387" +alt="A Shrew Can Do It, But Not a Man."> +</center> + +<p> +It possesses a peculiar and mystical significance not shared by any +other feature. This is abundantly proved by common speech, which is one +of the most trustworthy of all kinds of evidence. For example, we speak +of a person turning up his nose at a good offer. The phrase is absurd, +for the power of turning up his nose is one which no human being ever +possessed. A shrew can do it, but not a man. Yet the meaning of the +saying needs no interpretation. Akin to it is the classical phrase, +<i>adunco suspendere naso</i>. What Horace means scarcely requires +explanation, but no commentator has successfully explained it. These +expressions well illustrate the mystery that enshrouds our most salient +feature. They show that, while everybody can see that disdain is +expressed through the nose, nobody can define how it is done. Then there +is that curious expression "put his nose out of joint," which is quite +inexplicable, the nose being destitute of joint. There are many other +phrases and also gestures which point in the same direction, but need +not be cited, being for the most part vulgar. Allusions to the nose have +a tendency to be vulgar, which is another mystery inciting us to +investigate it. So let us proceed. +</p> +<p> +The first thing required by the principles of scientific precedure is a +definition. What is a nose? But this proves to be a much more difficult +question than anyone would suspect before he tried to answer it. The +individual human nose we can recognise, describe or sketch more easily +than any other feature, but try to define the thing <i>nose</i> in Nature and +it is a most elusive phenomenon. When we speak of a man being led by the +nose we imply that it is a part of him which is prominent and situated +in front, when we speak of keeping one's nose above water we refer to it +as the breathing orifice, but when we say that this or that offends our +nose we are regarding it as the seat of the sense of smell. I believe +that all these three ideas must be included in any definition. It should +follow that insects, which breathe through holes in their sides, cannot +have noses, and this is the truth. +</p> +<p> +Fishes, too, though they may have snouts, have not noses, because they +breathe by gills. In truth, it seems that the nose was a very late and +high acquisition, almost the finishing touch of the perfected animal +form. And incidentally this leads us to notice what a great step was +taken in evolution when the breathing holes were brought up to the +region of the mouth. For the sense of taste is necessarily situated in +the mouth, and the sense of smell is in close alliance with it. The +mouth tastes food dissolved in the saliva during the process of +mastication, and the primary use of the sense of smell is to detect and +analyse beforehand the small particles given off by food and floating in +the atmosphere. +</p> +<p> +A good many years ago, when the late Sally chimpanzee was the darling of +the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, I watched her eating dates. She +was an epicure, and always peeled each date delicately with her +preposterous lips before eating it, and during the process she would +apply the date to her nose every second to test its quality or enjoy its +aroma. The action was indescribably comical, but what would it have been +if her nostrils had been situated among her ribs? Imagine a mantis, for +example, as he chews up a fly, lifting one of his wings and applying it +to his flanks to see if it smells gamey. That is where some naturalists +believe that the sense of smell is situated in insects. Others, however, +think, with reason, that it is in the antennae or mouth. Nobody knows; +the senses of the lower animals seem to be stuck about all parts of the +body. +</p> +<p> +But, even if the sense of smell is at the mouth, how limited must its +usefulness be when it can only deal with substances that are held to it! +A new era dawned when the passages by which the breath of life +unceasingly comes and goes were transferred to the region of the mouth +also. The nerves of smell quickly spread themselves over the lining +membrane of those passages and became warders of the gate, challenging +every waft of air that entered the body and examining what it carried. +Thenceforth this region comprising the mouth, nostrils and surrounding +parts holds a new and high place in the economy of the body, for the +headquarters of the intelligence department are located there, and all +the faculties of the brain converge on that point. Of course, the eyes +and ears claim a share, but they are not far off. +</p> +<p> +Now it is being recognised more and more clearly by medical and +physiological science that when the mind is much directed to any part of +the body it exercises an influence in some way not understood on the +flow of blood to that part to a degree which may seriously affect its +functions and even its growth. When a person is suffering from any +nervous affection, from heart disease, or even from weakness of the +eyes, it is of the utmost importance to keep him from knowing it if +possible, for if he knows it he will think about it, and that will +inevitably aggravate it. This principle is well recognised in systems of +physical culture. And surely it is impossible that so much intelligence +should pass through that one sensitive region of the body which we are +considering without affecting its growth and structure. Every muscle in +it becomes quick to respond to various sensations in different ways, +till the very recollection of those sensations will excite the same +response. +</p> +<p> +Nay, we may go further. The mental emotions excited by those sensations +will be expressed in the same way. For example, the sense of smell is +peculiarly effective in exciting disgust. Anything which does violence +to the sense of hearing exasperates, but does not disgust. If a man +practises the accordion all day in the next room you do not loathe him, +you only want to kill him. But anything that stinks excites pure +disgust. Here you have the key to the fact that disgust and all feelings +akin to it, disdain, contempt and scorn, express themselves through the +nose. Darwin says that when we think of anything base or vile in a man's +character the expression of the face is the same "as if we smelled a bad +smell." This is an example of the temporary expression of a passing +emotion, and there are many others like it. But each of us has his +prevailing and dominant emotions which constitute the habitual +attitude of his mind. And by the habitual indulgence of any emotion the +features will become habituated to the expression of it, and so the set +of our features comes at last to express our prevailing and dominant +emotions; in other words, our <i>character</i>. +</p> + +<a name="image-15"><!-- Image 15 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/078.png" width="500" height="632" +alt="The Nostrils of the Apteryx Are at the Tip of Its Beak."> +</center> + +<p> +But let us return to the evolution of the nose. In these days of +universal "Nature study" nobody need be told that the practice of +breathing through the nostrils was introduced by the amphibians and +reptiles. The former (frogs and toads) take to it only when they come of +age, but lizards, snakes and all other reptiles do it from infancy. But +the nose is not yet. That is something too delicate to come out of a +cold-blooded snout covered with hard scales. Birds, too, by having their +mouth parts encased in a horny bill seem to be debarred from wearing +noses. And yet there is one primeval fowl, most ancient of all the +feathered families, which has come near it. I mean the apteryx, that +eccentric, wingless recluse which hides itself in the scrub jungles of +New Zealand. Its nostrils, unlike those of every other bird, are at the +tip of its beak, which is swollen and sensitive; and Dr. Buller says +that as it wanders about in the night it makes a continual sniffing and +softly taps the walls of its cage with the point of its bill. But the +apteryx is one of those odd geniuses which come into the world too soon, +and perish ineffectual. Its kindred are all extinct, and so will it be +ere long. +</p> + +<a name="image-16"><!-- Image 16 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/080.png" width="450" height="508" +alt="A Bold attempt to Grow in the Case of a Tapir"> +</center> + +<p> +When we come to the beasts we find the right conditions at last for the +growth of the nose. Take the horse for an example of the average beast +without idiosyncrasy. Its profile is nearly a straight line from the +crown to the nostrils, beyond which it slopes downwards to the lips. The +skin of this part is soft and smooth, without hair, and the horse dearly +loves to have it fondled. The sense of touch is evidently uppermost. At +this stage there was what to the eye of fancy looks like a bold attempt +to grow a nose in the case of a tapir, but it miscarried. These hoofed +beasts are all very hard up for something in the way of a hand to bring +their food to their mouths. The camel employs its lips and the cow its +tongue; the muntjae or barking deer of India has attained a tongue of +such length that it uses it for a handkerchief to wipe its eyes. So the +tapir could not resist the temptation to misapply its nose to the +purpose of gathering fodder, and the ultimate result was the elephant, +whose nose is a wonderful hand and a bucket and other things. The pig, +being a swine, debased its nose in a worse way, making a grubbing tool +of it. +</p> +<p> +There has been another attempt to misuse and pervert this part of the +face which I scarcely dare to touch upon, for it is so utterly fantastic +and mystical that I fear the charge of heresy if I give words to my +thoughts. It occurs among bats, a tribe of obscure creatures about which +common knowledge amounts to this, that they fly about after sunset, are +uncanny, and fond of getting entangled in the hair of ladies, and should +be killed. But there are certain families of bats, named horseshoe bats, +leaf-nosed bats and vampires about which common knowledge is <i>nil</i>, and +the knowledge possessed by naturalists very little, so I will tell what +I know of them. They are larger than common bats, their wings are broad, +soft and silent, like those of the owl, they sleep in caves, tombs and +ruins, they do not flutter in the open air, but swiftly traverse gloomy +avenues and shady glades, their prey is not gnats and midges, but the +"droning beetle," the death's head moth, the cockchafer, croaking frogs, +sleeping birds and <i>human blood</i>. The books will tell you that these +bats are distinguished by "complicated nasal appendages consisting of +foliaceous skin processes around the nostrils," which is quite true and +utterly futile. It may do for a dried skin or a specimen in spirits of +wine. I have had the foul fiend in a cage and looked him in the face. +His whole countenance, from lips to brow and from cheek to cheek, is +covered and hidden by a hideous design of +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Spells and signs,</p> + <p>Symbolic letters, circles, lines,</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +sculptured in living, quivering skin. It is a sight to make the flesh +creep. The books suggest that these foliaceous appendages are the organs +of some special sense akin to touch. Futile again! There are things in +Nature still which prompt the naturalist who has not atrophied his inner +eye and starved his imagination to cry out: +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Science ...</p> + <p>Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,</p> + <p>Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +Supposing there should be in the unseen universe an evil spirit, an imp +of malice and mischief, not Milton's Satan, but the Deil of Burns:</p> + + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Whyles ranging, like a roaring lion,</p> + <p class="i2">For prey, a' holes an' corners tryin;</p> + <p>Whyles on the strong-winged tempest flyin,</p> + <p>Tirlin the kirks;</p> + <p>Whyles in the human bosom pryin,</p> + </div> + </div> + + +<p class="cont">and supposing him to crave possession of a body through which he might +get into touch with this material world and express himself in outward +forms and motions; then oh! how fitly were this bat explained. +</p> +<p> +But let us go back to firm ground. If you compare a dog's profile with +that of a horse you will note at once that the nostrils are in advance +of the lips, and have a kind of portal to themselves. This is a distinct +advance. The sense of smell has come to the front and pushed aside the +lower sense of touch. You will observe, too, that with the growth of the +brain the brain-pan has elevated itself above the level of the nose. +Through the cat to the monkeys the process proceeds, the forehead +advancing, the jaws retreating, and the nostrils leaving the lips, until +they finally settle in a detached villa midway between the eyes and the +mouth. This is the nose. I do not know the use of it. I cannot fathom +the meaning of it. It is a solemn mystery. See the face of an +orang-outang. It is a <i>countenance</i>, a signboard with three distinct +lines of writing on it, the eyes, the nose and the mouth. You may not +think much of this particular nose. Neither do I. I think it is +situated rather too near the eyes and too far from the mouth. It is a +little too small also, and wants style. But you must not judge a first +attempt too critically. I have seen human noses of a pattern not unlike +this, but they are not considered aristocratic: perhaps they indicate a +reversion to the ancestral type. +</p> + +<a name="image-17"><!-- Image 17 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/084.png" width="300" height="516" +alt="I Have Seen Human Noses of a Pattern Not Unlike This, But they Are Not Considered Aristocratic."> +</center> + +<p> +But the noses even of monkeys are not all like this. In fact, there is a +good deal of variety, and two in particular have struck me as quite +remarkable. One is that of the long-nosed monkey (<i>Semnopithecus +nasalis</i>). I think it must have suggested Sterne's stranger on a mule, +who had travelled to the promontory of noses and threw all Strassburg +into a ferment. I have often contemplated this nose in mute wonderment, +and longed to see that monkey in life, if so be I might arrive at some +understanding of it; for the taxidermist cannot rise above his own +level, and the man who would mount <i>S. nasalis</i> would need to be a Henry +Irving. Then there is the sub-nosed monkey, labelled <i>rhinopithecus</i>, of +which there is an expressive specimen at the South Kensington Museum. +Who can consider that nose seriously and continue to believe in a +recipe made up of struggle for existence, adaptation to environment, and +natural selection <i>quantum suf</i>.? If I could dine with that monkey, ask +it to drink a glass of wine with me, offer it a pinch of snuff and so +on, I might come in time to feel, if not to comprehend, the import of +its nose. +</p> + +<a name="image-18"><!-- Image 18 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/085.png" width="500" height="771" +alt="The Long-Nosed Monkey."> +</center> + + +<a name="image-19"><!-- Image 19 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/086.png" width="300" height="539" +alt="Who Can Consider That Nose Seriously?"> +</center> + +<p> +But one step further is required for the evolution of what we may call +the human nose, and that is a solid foundation, a ridge of bone +connecting it with the brow and separating the eyes from each other. I +believe that the completeness of this is a fair index of the comparative +advancement of different races of men. In the Greek ideal of a perfect +face the profile forms a straight line from the top of the forehead to +the tip of the nose. This is the type of face which painters have +delighted to give to the Virgin Mary; and, when looking at their +Madonnas, one cannot help wondering whether they forgot that Mary was a +Jewess. According to the Hebrew ideal, a perfect nose was like "the +tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus" (Song of Solomon, vii. +4); but not even the ruins of that tower remain to help us to-day. The +Romans, no doubt, accepted the ideal of the Greeks aesthetically, but +their destiny had given them a very different nose, and they ruled the +world. +</p> +<p> +Here is the nose of Julius Caesar as a coin has preserved it for us. I +think that the outline is too straight for a typical Roman, but the deep +dip under the brow and the downward point are characteristic. Now +compare the nose of another race which rules an empire greater than that +of the Caesars. Here is John Bull as <i>Punch</i> usually represents him. It +belongs to the same genus as that of the Roman. The reason why this +should be the nose of command is not easy to give with scientific +precision, for we are dealing with the play of very subtle influences, +so the man without imagination will no doubt scoff. But I will take +shelter under Darwin. Dealing with the expression of pride he says, "A +proud man exhibits his sense of superiority by holding his head and body +erect. He is haughty <i>(haut),</i> or high, and makes himself appear as +large as possible." Again, "The arrogant man looks down on others"; and +yet again, "In some photographs of patients affected by a monomania of +pride, sent me by Dr. Crichton-Browne, the head and body were held erect +and the mouth firmly closed. This latter action, expressive of decision, +follows, I presume, from the proud man feeling perfect self-confidence +in himself." +</p> +<p> +Darwin says nothing about the nose, but I believe that, by physiological +sympathy, it cannot but take part in the habitual downward look upon +inferior beings. Darwin goes on to say that, "The whole expression of +pride stands in direct antithesis to that of humility"; from which it +follows, if my philosophy is sound, that the nose of Uriah Heep was +turned upwards. +</p> +<p> +Of course, many emotions may share in the moulding of a nose, and the +whole subject is too intricate and vast to be treated briefly. I have +only given a few examples to illustrate my argument, and my conclusion +is that the key to the peculiar significance and personal quality of the +nose is to be found in its <i>immobility</i>. The eyes and lips are +incessantly in motion, we can twitch and wrinkle the cheeks and +forehead, and muscles to move the ears are there, though most men have +lost control of them. But the nose stands out like some bold promontory +on a level coast, or like the Sphinx in the Egyptian desert, with an +ancient history, no doubt, and a mystery perhaps, but without response +to any appeal. And for this very reason it is an index, not to that +which is transient in the man, but to that which is permanent. He may +knit his brows to seem thoughtful and profound, or compress his lips to +persuade his friends and himself that he has a strong will, but he can +play no trick with his nose. There it stands, an incorruptible witness, +testifying to what he is, and not only to what he is, but to the rock +whence he was hewn and to the pit whence he was digged. For his nose is +a bequest from his ancestors, an entailed estate which he cannot +alienate. +</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="RULE4_51"><!-- RULE4 5 --></a> +<h2> + V +</h2> + +<center> +EARS +</center> +<p> +Men and women have ears, and so have jugs and pitchers. In the latter +case they are useful: jugs and pitchers are lifted by them. And what is +useful is fit, and fitness is the first condition of beauty. But human +ears are put to no use, except sometimes when naughty little boys are +lifted by them in the way of discipline; and I can see no beauty in +them. It is only because they are so common that we do not notice how +ridiculous they are. In the days of Charles I. men sometimes had their +ears cut off for holding wrong opinions, which would have made them +famous and popular in these enlightened days, but at that time it made +all right-thinking people despise them, so the fashion of going without +ears did not spread among us. If it had, then how differently we should +all think of the matter now! If we were all accustomed to neat, round +heads at drawing-rooms, levees and balls, how repulsive it Would be to +see a well-dressed man with two ridiculous, wrinkled appendages sticking +out from the sides of his face! +</p> +<p> +In saying this I am not drawing on my fancy, but on my memory. I can +recollect the time when no gentleman, still less any lady, would have +owned a terrier with its ears on. And why go back so far? The same +sentiment is prevalent in good society with respect to men's beards in +this year of grace and smooth faces. Yet, if one chance to be looking at +a Rembrandt instead of at society, what an infinitely handsomer adjunct +to a noble face is a fine beard than a pair of ears! +</p> +<p> +When woman first looked at her face in a polished saucepan, she was at +once struck with the comicality of those things, and bethought herself +what to do with them. She decided to use them for pegs to hang ornaments +on. The improvement excited the admiration of her husband and the envy +of her rivals to such a degree that all other women of taste in her +tribe did the same, and from that day to this, in almost every country +in the world, it has been accounted a shame for any respectable woman to +show her face in public in the hideousness of naked ears. This discovery +of its capabilities gave a new value to the ear, and a large, roomy one +became an asset in the marriage market. I have seen a pretty little +damsel of Sind with fourteen jingling silver things hanging at regular +intervals from the outside edge of each ear. If Nature had been +niggardly, the lobe at least could be enlarged by boring it and +thrusting in a small wooden peg, then a larger one, and so on until it +could hold an ivory wheel as large as a quoit, and hung down to the +shoulders. +</p> +<p> +But Nature surely did not intend the ear for this purpose. Then what +did she intend? A popular error is that the ears are given to hear with, +but the ears cannot hear. The hearing is done by a box of assorted +instruments (<i>malleus, incus, stapes</i>, etc.) hidden in a burrow which +has its entrance inside of the ear. If you argue that the ears are +intended to catch sounds and direct them down to the hearing instrument, +then explain their absurd shape. They are useless. A man who wants to +hear distinctly puts his hand to his ear. And why do they not turn to +meet the sounds that come from different quarters? They are absolutely +immovable, and therefore also expressionless. A savage expresses his +mind with all the rest of his face; he smiles and grins and pouts and +frowns, but his ears stand like gravestones with the inscriptions +effaced. How different is the case when you turn from man to the +"irrational" animals! The eyes of a fawn are lustrous and beautiful, but +they would be as meaningless as polished stones without the eloquent +ears that stand behind them and tell her thoughts. Curiosity, suspicion, +alarm, anger, submission, friendliness, every emotion that flits across +her quick, sensitive mind speaks through them. They are in touch with +her soul, and half the music of her life is played on them. And if you +abstract yourself from individuals and look at that thing, the ear, in +the wide field of life, what a great, living reality it is!—a spiritual +unity under infinite diversity of material form and fashion. It is like +the telegraph wire overhead, the commonest and plainest of material +things, but charged with the silent and invisible currents of the life +of the world. +</p> +<p> +"Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore." +</p> + +<a name="image-20"><!-- Image 20 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/092.png" width="450" height="467" +alt="Or Perhaps when It Wants to Listen It Raises a Flipper to Its Ear."> +</center> + +<p> +Birds have no ears, nor have crocodiles, nor frogs, nor snakes. Ears +seem to be for beasts only. And not for all beasts. Seals are divided by +naturalists into two great families—those with ears, and those without. +The common seal belongs to the latter class, and the sea-lion to the +former. A common seal lives in the sea, and when it does wriggle up on +the beach of an iceberg there is nothing to hear, I suppose, or perhaps +when it wants to listen it raises a flipper to its ear. I never saw one +doing so, but we do not see everything that happens in the world. The +sea-lion, with its stouter limbs, can lift its forepart, raise its head +and look about it, and even flop about the ice-fields at a respectable +rate. And there is no doubt that one of these is as much above an +earless seal as fifty years of Europe are better than a cycle of Cathay. +When performing seals are exhibited at a circus sitting on chairs, +catching balls on the points of their noses and playing diabolo with +them, or balancing billiard cues on their snouts, and doing other +miraculous things, they are always sea-lions, not common seals. Of +course, I do not mean to insinuate that sea-lions invented the ear and +stuck it on: that would be unscientific; but I mean that their general +intelligence and interest in affairs created that demand for more +distinct hearing which led to the development of an ear trumpet. This +view is wholly scientific, though pedants may quarrel with my way of +putting it. +</p> +<p> +The sea-lion's ears are very minute, mere apologies one might think; but +don't be hasty. The finny prey of the sea-lion makes no sound as it +skims through the water; and perhaps the padded foot of that stealthy +garrotter, the Polar bear, makes as little on the smooth ice; for +catching the one and not being caught by the other the sea-lion must +trust to the keenness of its great goggle eyes. But it is a social +beast, and it wants to catch the bellowing of its fellows far across +the foggy waste of ice-floes; and that little leather scoop standing +behind the ear-hole seems to be just the instrument required to catch +and send down those sounds which would otherwise glance off the glossy +fur and never find entrance to the tiny orifice at all. If it were any +larger than is absolutely necessary it would be a serious impediment to +a professional diver and swimmer like the sea-lion. This is the reason +why otters have very small ears, and why whales and porpoises have none +at all. +</p> +<p> +But when a beast lives on land the conditions are all altered, and then +the ear blossoms out into an infinite variety of forms and sizes, from +each of which the true naturalist may divine the manner of life of its +wearer as surely as the palmist tells your past, present and future from +the lines on your hand. First, he will divide all beasts into those that +pursue and those that flee, oppressors and oppressed. The former point +their ears forwards, but the latter backwards. There may be a good deal +of free play in both cases, but I am thinking of the habitual position. +When a cat is making its felonious way along the garden wall, wrapped in +thoughts of blackbirds and thrushes, its ears look straight forwards, +and this is the way in which a cat's portrait is always taken, because +it is characteristic, It cannot turn them round to catch sounds from +behind, and would scorn to do so; when accosted from behind, it turns +its head and looks danger in the face. It can fold them down backwards +when the danger is a terrier and the decks are cleared for action, but +that is another story. Contrast Brer Rabbit as he comes "lopin' up de +big road," His ears are turning every way scouting for danger, not +always in unison, but independently; but when he is at rest they are set +to alarm from the flank and rear. +</p> + +<a name="image-21"><!-- Image 21 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/095.png" width="300" height="497" +alt="'Tear out the House Like the Dogs Wuz atter Him.'"> +</center> + +<p> +But when he "tear out the house like the dogs wuz atter him," then they +point straight back. He was made to be eaten, and he knows it. So it is +with the whole tribe of deer, and even with the horse, pampered and +cared for and unacquainted with danger; his ears are a weathercock +registering the drift of all his petty hopes and fears. I see the left +ear go forward and prepare for a desperate shy at that wheelbarrow. He +knows a wheelbarrow familiarly—there is one in his stall all day—but I +am taking him a road he does not want to go, and so the hypocrite is +going to pretend that barrow is of a dangerous sort. I prepare to apply +a counter-irritant: he sees it with the corner of his eye, and both ears +turn back like a tuning-fork. +</p> +<p> +The size and quality of the ear serve to show how far the owner depends +on it. You will never begin to understand Nature until you see clearly +that every life is dominated by two supreme anxieties which push aside +all other concerns—viz., to eat, and not to be eaten. The one is +uppermost in those that pursue, and the other in those that flee. Now if +the pursuer fails he loses a dinner, but if the fugitive fails he loses +his life, from which it follows that the very best sort of ears will be +found among those beasts that do not ravage but run. +</p> +<p> +But there is another matter to be taken into account. The ears are not +the whole of the beast's outfit. It has eyes, and it has a nose. Which +of the three it most relies on depends upon the manner of its life. A +bird lives in trees or the air, looking down at the prowling cat or up +at the hawk hovering in the clear sky; so it does not keep ears, and its +nose is of no account. But what four-footed thing can see like a bird? +The squirrel also lives in the trees, and its ears are frivolously +decorated with tufts of hair. You will not find many beasts that can +afford to prostitute their ears to ornamental purposes. The only other +beast that I can think of at this moment which has tufted ears is the +lynx. Now the lynx is a tree cat, and there is proverbial wisdom in the +saying "Eyes like a lynx." +</p> + +<a name="image-22"><!-- Image 22 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/097.png" width="600" height="728" +alt="A Great Catholic Congress of Distinguished Ears."> +</center> + +<p> +But go to the timid beasts that spend their lives on the ground among +grass and brushwood and woods and coppices, where murderous foes are +prowling unseen, and you will see ears indeed—expansive, tremulous, +turning lightly on well-oiled pivots, and catching, like large +sea-shells, the mingled murmur of rustling leaves and snapping twigs and +chirping insects and falling seeds, and the slight, occasional, abrupt, +fateful sound which is none of these. It is impossible, no doubt, for us +ever to think ourselves into the life which these beasts live—moving, +thinking and sleeping in a circumambient atmosphere of never-ceasing +sound; sitting, as it were, at the receiving station of a system of +wireless telegraphy, and catching cross-currents of floating +intelligence from all quarters, mostly undiscernible by us if we +listened for it, but which they, by long practice, instantly locate and +interpret without conscious effort. +</p> +<p> +The zoologist classifies them under many heads. The field mouse and +rabbits are rodentia, the deer ungulata, the kangaroos marsupialia. In +my museum they are all one family, and their labels are their ears. In +these days of international conferences, parliaments of religion, +pan-everything-in-turn councils, might we not arrange for a great +catholic congress of distinguished ears? What a glow of new life it +would shed upon our straitened, traditional ways of thinking about the +social problems of our humble fellow-creatures! I would exclude the +eared owls, whose ears are a mere sport of fashion, like the hideous +imitations of birds' wings which ladies stick on their hats. +</p> +<p> +But just when this peep into the rare show of Nature is lifting my soul +into sublimity, I am brought down to the base earth again by an +exception. This is the plague of all high science. You design a stately +theory, collect from many quarters a wealth of facts to establish it +with, and have arranged them with cumulative and irresistible force, +when some disgusting, uninvited case thrusts itself in on your notice +and refuses to fit into your argument at all. In this instance it is +"my lord the elephant." That he has no need to concern himself about any +bloodthirsty beast that may be lurking in the jungle is not more obvious +than that his ears are the biggest in the world. Now there are two ways +of getting rid of an obstruction of this kind. One is to betake yourself +to your thinking chair and pipe and to rake up the possibilities of the +Pleiocene and Meiocene ages, and prove that when the immense ear of the +elephant was evolved there must have been some carnivorous monster, some +sabre-toothed tiger or cave bear, which preyed on elephants. +</p> +<p> +The other way is to get acquainted with the elephant, cultivate an +intimacy with him, and find out what his ears are to him. I prefer the +second way. I would patiently watch him as he stands drowsily under an +umbrageous banian tree on a sultry day before the monsoon has burst and +refreshed earth and air. So might I note that his ears are incessantly +moving, but not turning this way and that to catch sounds—just +flapping, flapping, as if to cool his great temples. So have I seen the +gigantic fruit bats, called flying foxes in India, hanging in hundreds +in the upper branches of a tall peepul tree at noon, feeling too hot to +sleep, and all fanning themselves in unison with one wing—a comic +spectacle. And at each flap of the elephant's ears I would observe that +a cloud of flies (for the elephant is not too great to be pestered by +the despicable hordes of beggars for blood) were dislodged from their +feeding grounds about his head and neck, and, trying to settle about his +rear parts, were driven back again by the swinging of his tail. Then I +should say that ear is just a fan. How significant it is that among the +emblems of royalty in the East the three chiefest are an +umbrella-bearer, two men who stand behind and swing great punkahs +modelled on the elephant's ear, and two others carrying yak's tails +wherewith to scare the flies from the royal person! The elephant is a +rajah! +</p> +<p> +There is another mysterious ear which is a stumbling-block to the simple +theory-monger. It is in fashion among a tribe of bats to which belongs +the so-called vampire of India. This monster is fond of coming into your +bedroom at midnight through the open windows, but not to suck your +blood, for it has little in common with the true vampire of South +America. It brings its dinner with it and hangs from the ceiling, +"feeding like horses when you hear them feed." You hear its jaws +working—crunch, crunch, crunch, but feel too drowsy to get up and expel +it. +</p> +<p> +When you get up in the morning there on your clean dressing table, just +below the place where it hung, are the bloody remains of a sparrow, or +the crumbs of a tree-frog. The servants will tell you that the sparrow +was killed and eaten by a rat, but if you rise softly next night when +you hear the sound of feeding, and shut the windows, you will find a +goblin hanging from the ceiling in the morning, hideous beyond the +power of words to tell. Its ears, thin, membranous and longer than its +head, tremble incessantly. Inside of them is another pair, much smaller +than the first, and tuned to their octave, I should guess, while two +membranous smelling trumpets of similar pattern rise over the nose. What +is the meaning of these repulsive instruments, and how does that strange +beast catch sparrows? When it comes out after dark and quarters the +garden, passing swiftly under and through the branches of trees, they +are sound asleep hidden among the leaves, motionless and silent. But +their flesh may be scented, and their gentle breathing heard if you have +instruments sufficiently delicate. Then the ample wings may suddenly +enfold the sleeping body, and the savage jaws grip the startled head +before there is time even to scream. Without a doubt this is the secret +of the vampire bat's ears. +</p> +<p> +But to find food and flee death are not the only interests in life even +to the meanest creature. There are social pleasures, family affections +and fellowship, sympathy and co-operation in the struggles of life. And +there is love. +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Omne adeo genus in terris hominumque ferarumque,</p> + <p>Et genus aequoreum, pecudes, pictaeque volucres,</p> + <p>In furias ignemque ruunt: amor omnibus idem.</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +The chirping of the cricket, the song of the lark, the call of the +sentinel crane, the watchword with which the migratory geese keep their +squadrons together, the howling of jackals, the lowing of cows, the hum +of the hive, the chatter of the drawing-room, and a hundred other voices +in forest and field and town remind us that the voice and the ear are +the pair of wheels on which society runs. +</p> +<p> +And this thought points the way out of another contradictious puzzle, +that which confronts my argument from the ears of an ass. It roams +treeless deserts where no foe can approach unseen. Thistles make no +sound. Why should it be adorned with ears which in their amplitude are +scarcely surpassed by those of the rabbit and the hare. There is no +answer unless their function is to hear the bray of a fellow-ass.... One +may object that that majestic sound is surely of force to impress itself +without any aid from an external ear; but that is a vain argument built +on the costermonger's moke—dreary exile from its fatherland. Remember +that its ancestors wandered on the steppes of Central Asia or the +borders of the Sahara. In those boundless solitudes, with nothing that +eye can see or that common ear can hear to remind her that she is not +the sole inhabitant of the universe, the wild ass "snuffeth up the wind +in her desire," and lifting her windsails to the hot blast, hears, borne +across miles of white sand and shimmering mirage, the joyful +reverberations of that music which tells of old comrades and boon +companions scouring the plain and kicking up their exultant heels. +</p> +<p> +Monkeys taking to trees were like the birds, they scarcely needed ears. +And so by the high road of evolution you arrive at man and the enigma of +his ear. It is a shrunken and shrivelled remnant, a moss-grown ruin, a +derelict ship. It is to a pattern ear what the old shoe which you find +in a country lane, shed from the foot of some "unemployed," is to one of +Waukenphast's "five-miles-an-hour-easy" boots. We ought to temper our +contempt for what it is with respect for what it was. All the parts of +it are there and recognisable, even to the muscles that should move it, +but we have lost control of them. I believe anyone could regain that by +persevering exercise of his will power for a time—that is, if he has +any. I have a friend who, if you treat him with disrespect, shrivels you +up with a sarcastic wag of his right ear. +</p> +<p> +The ears of dogs open up another vista for the questioning philosopher. +Their day is past, too, and man may cut them short to match his own, but +the dog grows them longer than before. When he first took service with +man, and grew careless and lazy, the muscles got slack and the ears +dropped, which is in accordance with Nature. Then, instead of being +allowed to wither away, they have been handed over to the milliner and +shaped and trimmed in harmony with the "style" of each breed of dogs. +How it has been done is one of those mysteries which will not open to +the iron keys of Darwin, But there it is for those to see who have eyes. +</p> + +<a name="image-23"><!-- Image 23 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/104.png" width="300" height="389" +alt="The Curls of a Mother's Darling."> +</center> + +<p> +The ears of the little dogs bred for ladies' laps are the curls of a +mother's darling; the pendant love-locks of the old, old maid who, +despite of changeful fashions, clings to those memorials of the pensive +beauty of her youth, are repeated in solemn mimicry by the dachshund +trotting at her heels; but the sensible fur cap of the dignified +Newfoundland reminds us of the cold regions from which his forefathers +came. Some kinds of terriers still have their ears starched up to look +perky, and I have occasionally seen a dog with one ear up and the other +down as if straining after the elusive idea expressed in the +Baden-Powell hat. All which shows that "one touch of nature makes the +whole world kin." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_6"><!-- RULE4 6 --></a> +<h2> + VI +</h2> + +<center> +TOMMY +</center> +<center> +THE STORY OF AN OWL +</center> +<p> +Among the many and various strangers within my gates who have helped to +enliven the days of my exile, Tommy was one towards whom I still feel a +certain sense of obligation because he taught me for the first time what +an owl is. For Tommy was an owl. From any dictionary you may ascertain +that an owl is a nocturnal, carnivorous bird, of a short, stout form, +with downy feathers and a large head; and if that does not satisfy you, +there is no lack of books which will furnish fuller and more precise +descriptions. +</p> +<p> +But descriptions cannot impart acquaintance. I had sought acquaintance +and had gained some knowledge such as books cannot supply, not only of +owls in general, but of that particular species of owls to which Tommy +belonged, who, in the heraldry of ornithology, was <i>Carine brahma</i>, an +Indian spotted owlet. This branch of the ancient family of owls has +always been eccentric. It does not mope and to the moon complain. It +flouts the moon and the sun and everyone who passes by, showing its +round face at its door and even coming out, at odd times of the day, to +stare and bob and play the clown. It does not cry "Tuwhoo, Tuwhoo," as +the poets would have it, but laughs, jabbers, squeaks and chants +clamorous duets with its spouse. +</p> +<p> +All this I knew. I had also gathered from his public appearances that a +spotted owlet is happy in his domestic life and that he is fond of fat +white ants, for, when their winged swarms were flying, I had seen him +making short flights from his perch in a tree and catching them with his +feet; and I believed that he fed in secret on mice and lizards. But all +that did not amount to understanding an owl, as I discovered when Tommy +became a member of our chummery. +</p> +<p> +Tommy was born in "the second city of the British Empire," to wit, +Bombay, in the month of March, 1901. His birthplace was a hole in an old +"Coral" tree. Domestic life in that hole was not conducted with +regularity. Meals were at uncertain hours and uncertain also in their +quantity and quality. The parents were hunters and were absent for long +periods, and though there was incredible shouting and laughter when they +returned, they came at such irregular times that we did not suspect that +they were permanent residents and had a family. One night, however, +Tommy, being precocious and, as we discovered afterwards, keen on seeing +life, took advantage of parental absence to clamber to the entrance of +the nursery and, losing his balance, toppled over into the garden. He +kept cool, however, and tried to conceal himself, but Hurree the malee, +watering the plants early in the morning, spied him lying with his face +on the earth and brought him to us. +</p> +<p> +He seemed dead, but he was very much alive, as appeared when he was made +to sit up and turned those wonderful eyes of his upon us. He was a droll +little object at that time, nearly globular in form and covered with +down, like a toy for children to play with. His head turned like a +revolving lighthouse and flared those eyes upon you wherever you went, +great luminous orbs, black-centred and gold-ringed and full of silent +wonder, or, I should rather say, surprise. This never left him. To the +last everything that presented itself to his gaze, though he had seen it +a hundred times, seemed to fill him with fresh surprise. Nothing ever +became familiar. What an enviable cast of mind! It must make the +brightness of childhood perennial. +</p> +<p> +There was some discussion as to how Tommy should be fed, and we finally +decided that one should try to open the small hooked beak, whose point +could just be detected protruding from a nest of fluff, while another +held a piece of raw meat ready to pop in. It did not look an easy job, +but we had scarcely set about it when Tommy himself solved the +difficulty by plucking the meat out of our fingers and swallowing it. +This early intimation that, however absent he might look, he was "all +there" was never belied, and there was no further difficulty about the +feeding of him. When he saw us coming he always fell into the same +ridiculous attitude, with his face in the dust, but we just picked him +up and stood him on his proper end and showed him the meat and his +bashfulness vanished at once. +</p> +<p> +After sunset he would get lively and begin calling for his mother in a +strange husky voice. At this time we would let him out in the garden, +watching him closely, for, if he thought he was alone, he would sneak +away slyly, then make a run for liberty, hobbling along at a good rate +with the aid of his wings, though he never attempted to fly as yet. When +detected and overtaken, he fell on his face as before. One memorable day +he found a hole in a stone wall and, before we could stop him, he was +in. The hole was too small to admit a hand, though not a rat or a snake, +so the prospect was gloomy. Suddenly a happy inspiration came to me. +That sad, husky cry with which he expressed his need of a mother was not +difficult to mimic, and he might be cheated into thinking that a lost +brother or sister was looking for him. I retired and made the attempt, +and, hark! a faint echo came from the wall. At each repetition it became +clearer, until the round face and great eyes appeared at the mouth of +the hole. Then the round body tumbled out, and little Tommy was hobbling +about, looking, with pathetic eagerness, for "the old familiar faces." +When he discovered how he had been betrayed, his face went down and he +suffered himself to be carried quietly to the canary's cage in which he +was kept. +</p> +<p> +It seemed to be time now to begin Tommy's education, for I judged that, +if he had been at home, he would ere then have been getting nightly +lessons in the poacher's art. So I procured a small gecko, one of those +grey house lizards, with pellets at the ends of their toes, which come +down from the roof after the lamps are lit and gorge themselves on the +foolish moths and plant bugs that come to the light. Securing it with a +thin cord tied round its waist, I introduced it into Tommy's cage. He +looked surprised, very much surprised. He raised himself to his full +height. He gazed at it. He curtseyed. He gave a little jump and was +standing with both feet on the lizard. A moment more and the lizard was +gliding down his throat with my thin cord after it. Mr. Seton Thompson +would have us believe that all young things are laboriously trained by +their parents, just like human children, and if he was an eye-witness of +all the scenes that he describes so vividly, it must be so with other +young things. But he did not know Tommy, who is the bird of Minerva and +evidently sprang into being, like his patron goddess, with all his +armour on. +</p> +<p> +After a time, when he had exchanged his infant down for a suit of +feathers, he was promoted to a large cage out in the garden, and his +regular diet was a little raw meat or a mutton bone tied to one of his +perches, but, by way of a treat, I would offer him, whenever I could get +it, a locust, or large grasshopper. His way of accepting this was unique +and pretty. He would look surprised, stare, curtsey once or twice, stare +again and then, suddenly, noiselessly and as lightly as a fairy, flit +across the cage and, without alighting, pluck the insect from my fingers +with both his feet and return to his perch. +</p> +<p> +Why he bowed to his food and to everybody and everything that presented +itself before him was a riddle that I never solved. A materialistic +friend suggested that he was adjusting the focus of his wonderful eyes, +and the action was certainly like that of an optician examining a lens; +but I feel that there was something more ceremonial about it. This +punctiliousness cost him his dinner once. I was curious to know what he +would do with a mouse, so, having caught one alive, I slipped it quietly +into his cage. He was more surprised than ever before, raised himself +erect, bowed to the earth once, twice and three times, stared, bowed +again and so on until, to his evident astonishment and chagrin, the +mouse found an opening and was gone. The lesson was not lost. A few days +later I got another mouse, to which he began to do obeisance as before, +but very soon and suddenly, though as softly as falling snow, he plumped +upon it with both feet and, spreading his wings on the ground, looked +all round him with infinite satisfaction. The mouse squeaked, but he +stopped that by cracking its skull quietly with his beak. Then he +gathered himself up and flew to the perch with his prize. +</p> +<p> +One thing I noted about Tommy most emphatically. He never showed a sign +of affection, or what is called attachment. He maintained a strictly +bowing acquaintance with me. He was not afraid, but he would suffer no +familiarity. He would come and eat, with due ceremony, out of my hand, +but if I offered to touch him he was surprised and affronted and went +off at once. When I moved to another house I found that I could not +continue to keep him, so I sent him to the zoological garden, where I +visited him sometimes, but he never vouchsafed a token of recognition. +His heart was locked except to his own kin. +</p> +<p> +But since that time, when I have seen an owl, even a barn owl, or a +great horned owl, swiftly cross the sky in the darkness of night, I have +felt that I could accompany it, in imagination, on its secret quest. It +will arrive silently, like the angel of death, in a tree overlooking a +field in which a rat, whose hour has come, is furtively feeding, all +alert and tremulous, but unaware of any impending danger. The rat will +go on feeding, unconscious of the mocking curtsey and the baleful eyes +that follow with mute attention its every motion, until the hand of the +clock has moved to the point assigned by fate, and then it will feel +eight sharp talons plunged into its flesh. I have seen the fierce dash +of the sparrow hawk into a crowd of unsuspecting sparrows, I know the +triumph of the falcon as it rises for the final, fatal swoop on the +flying duck, and I have watched the kestrel, high in air, scanning the +field for some rash mouse or lizard that has wandered too far from +shelter. The owl is also a bird of prey, but its idea is different from +all these. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_7"><!-- RULE4 7 --></a> +<h2> + VII +</h2> + +<center> +THE BARN OWL +</center> +<center> +A FRIEND OF MAN +</center> +<p> +A thunderstorm has burst on the common rat. Its complicity in the spread +of the plague, which has been proved up to the hilt, has filled the cup +of its iniquities to overflowing, and we have awakened to the fact that +it is and always has been an arch-enemy of mankind. Simultaneously, in +widely separated parts of the world, a "pogrom" has been proclaimed, and +the accounts of the massacre which come to us from great cities like +Calcutta and Bombay are appalling and almost incredible. They would move +to pity the most callous heart, if pity could be associated with the +rat. But it cannot. +</p> +<p> +The wild rat deserves that humane consideration to which all our natural +fellow-creatures on this earth are entitled; but the domestic rat (I use +this term advisedly, for though man has not domesticated it, it has +thoroughly domesticated itself) cannot justify its existence. It is a +fungus of civilisation. If it confined itself to its natural food, the +farmer's grain, the tax which it levies on the country would still be +such as no free people ought to endure. But it confines itself to +nothing. As Waterton says: "After dining on carrion in the filthiest +sink, it will often manage to sup on the choicest dainties of the +larder, where like Celoeno of old <i>vestigia foeda relinquit</i>." It kills +chickens, plunders the nests of little birds, devouring mother, eggs and +young, murders and feeds on its brothers and sisters and even its own +offspring, and not infrequently tastes even man when it finds him +asleep. The bite of a rat is sometimes very poisonous, and I have had to +give three months' sick leave to a clerk who had been bitten by one. Add +to this that the rat multiplies at a rate which is simply criminal, +rearing a family of perhaps a dozen every two or three months, and no +further argument is needed to justify the war which has been declared +against it. Every engine of war will, no doubt, be brought into use, +traps of many kinds, poisons, cats, the professional rat-catcher, and a +rat bacillus which, if once it gets a footing, is expected to originate +a fearful epidemic. +</p> +<p> +But I need not linger any more among rats, which are not my subject. I +am writing in the hope that this may be an opportune time to put in a +plea for a much persecuted native of this and many other countries, +whose principal function in the economy of nature is to kill rats and +mice. The barn, or screech, owl, which is found over a great part of +Europe and Asia and also in America, was once very common in Britain, +inhabiting every "ivy-mantled tower," church steeple, barn loft, hollow +tree, or dovecot, in which it could get a lodging. But it was never +welcome. Like the Jews in the days of King John it has been relentlessly +persecuted by superstition, ignorance and avarice. Avarice, instigated +by ladies and milliners, has looked with covetous eye on its downy and +beautiful plumes; while ignorance and superstition have feared and hated +the owl in all countries and all ages. In ancient Rome it was a bird of +evil omen. +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Foedaque fit volucris venturi nuncia luctus,</p> + <p>Ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen.</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +In India, to-day, if an owl sits on the house-top, the occupants dare +scarcely lie down to sleep, for they know that the devil is walking the +rooms and marking someone for death. Lady Macbeth, when about the murder +of Duncan, starts and whispers, +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Hark! Peace! It was the owl that shrieked,</p> + <p>The fatal bellman.</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +And even as late as the nineteenth century, Waterton's aged housekeeper +"knew full well what sorrow it had brought into other houses when she +was a young woman," Witches, like modern ladies of fashion, set great +value on its wings. The latter stick them on their hats, the witches in +Macbeth threw them into their boiling cauldron. Horace's Canidia could +not complete her recipe without +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p> "Plumamque nocturnae strigis."</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +We may suppose that in Britain these superstitions are gone for ever, +killed and buried by board schools and compulsory education. If they are +(there is room for an <i>if</i>) they have been succeeded by a worse, the +superstition of gamekeepers and farmers. It is worse in effect, because +these men have guns, which their predecessors had not. And it is more +wicked, because it is founded on an ignorance for which there is no +excuse. How little harm the barn owl is likely to do game may be +inferred from the fact that, when it makes its lodging in a dovecot, the +pigeons suffer no concern! Waterton (and no better authority could be +quoted) scouts the idea, common among farmers, that its business there +is to eat the pigeons' eggs. "They lay the saddle," he says, "on the +wrong horse. They ought to put it on the rat." His predecessor in the +estate had allowed the owls to be destroyed and the rats to multiply, +and there were few young pigeons in the dovecot. Waterton took strong +measures to exterminate the rats, but built breeding places for the +owls, and the dovecot, which they constantly frequented, became prolific +again. +</p> +<p> +But granting that the owls did twice the injury to game with which they +are credited, it would be repaid many times over by their services. +Waterton well says that, if we knew its utility in thinning the country +of mice, it would be with us what the ibis was with the Egyptians—a +sacred bird. He examined the pellets ejected by a pair of owls that +occupied a ruined gateway on the estate. Every pellet contained +skeletons of from four to seven mice. Owls, it may be necessary to +explain, swallow their food without separating flesh from bone, skin and +hair, and afterwards disgorge the indigestible portions rolled up into +little balls. In sixteen months the pair of owls above-mentioned had +accumulated a deposit of more than a bushel of these pellets, each a +funeral urn of from four to seven mice! In the old Portuguese fort of +Bassein in Western India I noticed that the earth at the foot of a +ruined tower was plentifully mixed with small skulls, jaws and other +bones. Taking home a handful and examining them, I found that they were +the remains of rats, mice and muskrats. +</p> +<p> +The owl kills small birds, large insects, frogs and even fishes, but +these are extras: its profession is rat-catching and mousing, and only +those who have a very intimate personal acquaintance with it know how +peculiarly its equipment and methods are adapted to this work. The +falcon gives open chase to the wild duck, keeping above it if possible +until near enough for a last spurt; then it comes down at a speed which +is terrific, and, striking the duck from above, dashes it to the ground. +The sparrow hawk plunges unexpectedly into a group of little birds and +nips up one with a long outstretched foot before they have time to get +clear of each other. The harrier skims over field, copse and meadow, +suddenly rounding corners and topping fences and surprising small +birds, or mice, on which it drops before they have recovered from their +surprise. +</p> +<p> +The owl does none of these things. For one thing, it hunts in the night, +when its sight is keenest and rats are abroad feeding. Its flight is +almost noiseless and yet marvellously light and rapid when it pleases. +Sailing over field, lane and hedgerow and examining the ground as it +goes, it finds a likely place and takes a post of observation on a fence +perhaps, or a sheaf of corn. Here it sits, bolt upright, all eyes. It +sees a rat emerge from the grass and advance slowly, as it feeds, into +open ground. There is no hurry, for the doom of that rat is already +fixed. So the owl just sits and watches till the right moment has +arrived; then it flits swiftly, softly, silently, across the intervening +space and drops like a flake of snow. Without warning, or suspicion of +danger, the rat feels eight sharp claws buried in its flesh. It protests +with frantic squeals, but these are stopped with a nip that crunches its +skull, and the owl is away with it to the old tower, where the hungry +children are calling, with weird, impatient hisses, for something to +eat. +</p> +<p> +The owl does not hunt the fields and hedgerows only. It goes to all +places where rats or mice may be, reconnoitres farmyards, barns and +dwelling houses and boldly enters open windows. Sometimes it hovers in +the air, like a kestrel, scanning the ground below. And though its +regular hunting hours are from dusk till dawn, it has been seen at work +as late as nine or ten on a bright summer morning. But the vulgar boys +of bird society are fond of mobbing it when it appears abroad by day, +and it dislikes publicity. +</p> +<p> +The barn owl lays its eggs in the places which it inhabits. There is +usually a thick bed of pellets on the floor, and it considers no other +nest needful. The eggs are said to be laid in pairs. There may be two, +four, or six, of different eggs, in the nest, and perhaps a young one, +or two, at the same time. Eggs are found from April, or even March, till +June or July, and there is, sometimes at any rate, a second brood as +late as November or December. This owl does not hoot, but screeches. A +weird and ghostly voice it is, from which, according to Ovid, the bird +has its Latin name, Strix (pronounced "Streex," probably, at that time). +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Est illis strigibus nomen, sed nominis hujus.</p> + <p>Causa, quod horrenda stridere nocte silent.</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +It is a sound which, coming suddenly out of the darkness, might well +start fears and forebodings in the dark and guilty mind of untutored +man, which would not be dispelled by a nearer view of the strange object +from which they proceeded. White, ghostly, upright, spindle-shaped and +biggest at the top, where two great orbs flare, like fiery bull's-eyes, +from the centres of two round white targets, it stands solemn and +speechless; you approach nearer and it falls into fearsome pantomimic +attitudes and grimaces, like a clown trying to frighten a child. And now +a new horror has been added to the barn owl. The numerous letters which +appeared in <i>The Times</i> and were summarised, with comments, by Sir T. +Digby Pigott, C.B., in <i>The Contemporary Review</i> of July 1908, leave no +reasonable room for doubt that this bird sometimes becomes brightly +luminous, and is the will-o'-the-wisp for believing in which we are +deriding our forefathers. All things considered, I cannot withhold my +sympathy and some respect for the superstition of aged housekeepers, +Romans and Indians. For that of gamekeepers and farmers I have neither. +All our new schemes of "Nature study" will surely deserve the reproach +of futility if, in the next generation, every farmhouse in England has +not its own Owl Tower for the encouragement of this friend of man. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_8"><!-- RULE4 8 --></a> +<h2> + VIII +</h2> + +<center> +DOMESTIC ANIMALS +</center> +<p> +Long before Jubal became the father of all such as handle the harp and +the organ and Tubalcain the instructor of every artificer in brass and +iron, Abel was a keeper of sheep, but the sacred writer has not informed +us how he first caught them and tamed them. If we consult other records +of the infancy of the human race, they reveal as little. When the +Egyptians began to portray their daily life on stone 6,000 or 7,000 +years ago, they already had cattle and sheep, geese and ducks and dogs +and plenty of asses, though not horses. They got these from the +Assyrians, who had used them in their chariots long before they began to +record anything. +</p> +<p> +Further back than this we have no one to question except those shadowy +men of the Stone Age who have left us heaps of their implements, but +none of their bones. They were not so careful of the bones of horses, +which lie in thousands about the precincts of their untidy villages, but +not a scrawl on a bit of a mammoth tusk has been found to indicate +whether these were ridden and driven, or only hunted and eaten. +</p> +<p> +Why should it be recorded that Cadmus invented letters? Why should we +inquire who first made gunpowder and glass? Why should every schoolboy +be taught that Watt was the inventor of the steam engine? Can any of +these be put in the scale, as benefactors of our race, with the man who +first trained a horse to carry him on its back, or drew milk with his +hands from the udders of a cow? The familiarity of the thing has made us +callous to the wonder of it. Let us put it before us, like a painting or +a statue, and have a good look at it. +</p> +<p> +There is a farmhouse, any common farmhouse, just one of the molecules +that constitute the mass of our wholesome country life. A horse is being +harnessed for the plough: its ancestors sniffed the wind on the steppes +of Tartary. Meek cows are standing to be milked: when primitive man +first knew them in their native forests he used to give them a wide +berth, for his flint arrows fell harmless off their tough hides, and +they were fierce exceedingly. A cock is crowing on the fence as if the +whole farm belonged to himself: he ought to be skulking in an Indian +jungle. The sheep have no business here; their place is on the rocky +mountains of Asia. As for the dog, it is difficult to assign it a +country, for it owns no wild kindred in any part of the world, but it +ought at least to be worrying the sheep. If there is an ass, it is a +native of Abyssinia, and the Turkeys are Americans. The cat derives its +descent from an Egyptian. +</p> +<p> +But all these are of one country now and of one religion. They know no +home nor desire any, except the farmhouse, in which they were born and +bred, and the lord of it is their lord, to whom they look for food and +protection. And what would he do without them? What should we do without +them? It is impossible to conceive that life could be carried on if we +were deprived of these obedient and uncomplaining servants. High +civilisation has been attained without steam engines; education, as we +use the term now, is superfluous—Runjeet Singh, the Lion of the Punjab, +could neither read nor write; the human race has prospered and +multiplied without the knowledge of iron; but we know of no time when +man did without domestic animals. +</p> +<p> +It is vain to speculate how the thing first came about, whether the +sportive anthropoid ape took to riding on a wild goat before he emerged +as a man keeping flocks, or whether some great pioneer, destined to be +worshipped in after ages as a demigod, showed his fellows how the wild +calves, if taken young, might be trained into tractable slaves; and it +is hopeless to expect that any record will now leap to light which will +give us knowledge in place of speculation. But it might not be +unprofitable to seek for some clue to the strange selection which the +domesticating genius of man has made from among the multifarious +material presented to it by the animal kingdom. If we do so we shall +almost be forced to the conclusion that domesticability is a character, +or quality, inherent in some animals and entirely wanting in others. +</p> +<p> +Let us begin with pigeons, a very large group, but one that shows more +unity than any of the other Orders into which naturalists divide birds. +It embraces turtle doves of many species, wood pigeons, ground pigeons, +fruit pigeons and some strange forms like the great crowned pigeon of +Victoria. Of all these only one, the common blue rock, has been +domesticated. The ring dove of Asia has been kept as a cage bird for so +long that a permanent albino and also a fawn-coloured variety have been +established and are more common in aviaries than birds of the natural +colour; but the ring dove has not become a domestic fowl, and never +will. In this instance there is a plausible explanation, for the blue +rock, unlike the rest of the tribe, nests and roosts in holes and is +also gregarious; therefore, if provided with accommodation of the kind +it requires, it will form a permanent settlement and remain with us on +the same terms as the honey bee; while the ring dove, not caring for a +fixed home, must be confined, however tame it may become, or it will +wander and be lost. +</p> +<p> +But this explanation will not fit other cases. What a multitude of wild +ducks there are in Scotland and every other country, mallards, pintails, +gadwalls, widgeons, pochards and teals, all very much alike in their +habits and tastes! But of them all only one species, and that a +migratory one, the mallard, has been persuaded to abandon its wandering +ways and settle down to a life of ease and obesity as a dependant of +man. In India there is a duck of the same genus as the mallard, known as +the spotted-billed duck (<i>Anas poecilorhynchus</i>), which is as large as +the mallard and quite as tasty, and is, moreover, not migratory, but +remains and breeds in the country. But it has not been domesticated: the +tame ducks in India, as here, are all mallards. The muscovy duck is a +distinct species which has been domesticated elsewhere and introduced. +</p> +<p> +From the ducks let us turn to the hens. The partridge, grouse and +pheasant are all dainty birds, but if we desire to eat them we must +shoot them, or (<i>proh pudor!</i>) snare them. Plover's eggs are worth four +shillings a dozen, but we must seek them on the moors. The birds that +have covenanted to accept our food and protection and lay their eggs for +our use and rear their young for us to kill are descended from <i>Gallus +bankivus</i>, the jungle fowl of Eastern India. How they came here history +records not: perhaps the gipsies brought them. They appear now in +strange and diverse guise, the ponderous and feather-legged +Cochin-China, the clean-limbed and wiry game, the crested Houdan, the +Minorca with its monstrous comb, and the puny bantam. In Japan there is +a breed that carries a tail seven or eight feet in length, which has to +be "done" regularly like a lady's hair, to keep it from dirt and damage. +</p> +<p> +But however their outward aspects may differ, they are of the same +blood and know it. A featherweight bantam cock will stand up to an +elephantine brahma and fight him according to the rules of the ring and +next minute pay compliments to his lady in language which she will be at +no loss to understand. And if the artificial conditions of their life +were removed, they would soon all lapse alike to the image of the stock +from which they are sprung. This is well illustrated in a show case in +the South Kensington Museum exhibiting a group of fowls from Pitcairn's +Island. These are descended from some stock landed by the mutinous crew +of H.M.S. <i>Bounty</i> in 1790, which ran wild, and in a century they have +gone back to the small size and lithe figure and almost to the game +colour of the wild birds from which they branched off before history +dawned. +</p> +<p> +If we turn next to the Ruminants, the clean beasts which chew the cud +and divide the hoof, the puzzle becomes harder still. Deer and antelopes +are often kept as pets, and become so tame that they are allowed to +wander at liberty. In Egypt herds of gazelles were so kept before the +days of Cheops. In India I have known a black buck which regularly +attended the station cricket ground, moving among the nervous players +with its nose in the air and insolence in its gait, fully aware that +eighteen-inch horns with very sharp points insured respectful treatment. +Mr. Sterndale trained a Neilghai to go in harness. The great bovine +antelopes of Africa would become as tame, and there is no reason to +suppose that their beef and milk would not be as good as those of the +cow. But no antelope or deer appears ever to have been domesticated, +with the exception of the reindeer. +</p> +<p> +Of the other ruminants the ox, buffalo, yak, goat, sheep and a few +others are domestic animals, while the bison and the gaur, or so-called +Indian bison, and a large number of wild goats and sheep have been +neglected. The buffalo and yak have probably come under the yoke in +comparatively recent times, for they are little changed; but the goat +and still more the sheep have undergone a wonderful transformation +within and without. Who could recognise in a Leicester ewe the wary +denizen of precipitous mountains which will not feed until it has set a +sentinel to give warning if danger approaches? And here is a curious +fact which has scarcely been noticed by naturalists. +</p> +<p> +The original of our goat is supposed to be the Persian ibex. At any +rate, it was an ibex of some species, as its horns plainly show. But on +the plains of Northern India, under ranges of hills on which the Persian +ibex wanders wild, the common domestic goat is a very different animal +from that of Europe, and has peculiar spiral horns of the same pattern +as the markhor, another grand species of wild goat which draws eager +hunters to the higher reaches of the same mountains. From this it would +appear that two species of wild goat have been domesticated and kept to +some extent distinct, one eventually finding its way westward, but not +eastward and southward. +</p> +<p> +The Indian humped cattle also differ so widely in form, structure and +voice from those of Europe that there can scarcely be a doubt of their +descent from distinct species. But both have entirely disappeared as +wild animals, unless indeed the white cattle of Chillingham are really +descendants of Caesar's dreadful urus and not merely domestic cattle +lapsed into savagery. So have the camel, and, with a similar possible +exception, the horse. Was the whole race in each of these cases +subjugated, or exterminated, and that by uncivilised man with his +primitive weapons? There is no analogy here with the extinction of such +animals as the mammoth, for the ox is a beast in every way fitted to +live and thrive in the present condition of this world, as much so as +the buffalo and the Indian bison, which show no sign of approaching +extinction. Our fathers easily got rid of the difficulty by assuming +that Noah never released these species after the Flood, but what shall +those do who cannot believe in the literality of Noah's ark? +</p> +<p> +As for the dog, its domestication has been the creation of a new +species. The material was perhaps the wolf, more likely the jackal, but +possibly a blend of more than one species. But a dog is now a dog and +neither a wolf nor a jackal. A mastiff, a pug, a collie, a greyhound, a +pariah all recognise each other and observe the same rules of etiquette +when they meet. +</p> +<p> +We must admit, however, that, whatever pliability of disposition, or +other inherent suitability, led to the first domestication of certain +species of animals, the changes induced in their natures by many +generations of domesticity have made them amenable to man's control to a +degree which puts a wide difference between them and their wild +relations. A wild ass, though brought up from its birth in a stable, +would make a very intractable costermonger's moke. We may infer from +this that the first subjugation of each of our common domestic animals +was the achievement of some genius, or of some tribe favourably +situated, and that they spread from that centre by sale or barter, +rather than that they were separately domesticated in many places. This +would partly explain why a few species of widely different families are +so universally kept in all countries to the exclusion of hundreds of +species nearly allied and apparently as suitable. When a want could be +supplied by obtaining from another country an animal bred to live with +man and serve him, the long and difficult task of softening down the +wild instincts of a beast taken from the forests or the hills and +acclimatising its constitution to a domestic life was not likely to be +attempted. +</p> +<p> +But there have been a few recent additions to our list of domestic +animals. The turkey and the guinea fowl are examples, and perhaps +within another generation we may be able to add the zebra. And there may +be many other animals fitted to enrich and adorn human life which would +make no insuperable resistance to domestication if wisely and patiently +handled. Here is a noble opening for carrying out in its kindest sense +the command, "Multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have +dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and +over every living thing that moveth upon the face of the earth." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_9"><!-- RULE4 9 --></a> +<h2> + IX +</h2> + +<center> +SNAKES +</center> +<p> +I have met persons, otherwise quite sane, who told me that they would +like to visit India if it were not for the <i>snakes</i>. Now there is +something very depressing in the thought that this state of mind is +extant in England, for it is calculated, on occasion, to have results of +a most melancholy nature. By way of example, let us picture the case of +a broken-hearted maiden forced to reject an ardent lover because duty +calls him to a land where there are snakes. Think of his happiness +blighted for ever and her doomed to a "perpetual maidenhood," harrowed +with remorseful dreams of the hourly perils and horrors through which he +must be passing without her, and dreading to enter an academy or +picture-gallery lest a laocoon or a fury might revive apprehensions too +horrible to be borne. In view of possibilities so dreadful, surely it is +a duty that a man owes to his kind to disseminate the truth, if he can, +about the present condition in the East of that reptile which, crawling +on its belly and eating dust and having its head bruised by the +descendants of Eve, sometimes pays off her share of the curse on their +heels. Here the truth is. +</p> +<p> +Within the limits of our Indian Empire, including Burmah and Ceylon, +there are at present known to naturalists two hundred and sixty-four +species of snakes. Twenty-seven of these are sea-serpents, which never +leave the sea, and could not if they would. The remaining two hundred +and thirty-seven species comprise samples of every size and pattern of +limbless reptile found on this globe, from the gigantic python, which +crushes a jackal and swallows it whole, to the little burrowing +<i>Typhlops</i>, whose proportions are those of an earthworm and its food +white ants. +</p> +<p> +If you have made up your mind never to touch a snake or go nearer to one +than you can help, then I need scarcely tell you what you know already, +that these are all alike hideous and repulsive in their aspect, being +smeared from head to tail with a viscous and venomous slime, which, as +your Shakespeare will tell you, leaves a trail even on fig-leaves when +they have occasion to pass over such. This preparation would appear to +line them inside as well as out, for there is no lack of ancient and +modern testimony to the fact that they "slaver" their prey all over +before swallowing it, that it may slide the more easily down their +ghastly throats. Their eye is cruel and stony, and possesses a peculiar +property known as "fascination," which places their victims entirely at +their mercy. They have also the power of coiling themselves up like a +watch-spring and discharging themselves from a considerable distance at +those whom they have doomed to death—a fact which is attested by such +passages in the poets as—</p> + + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p> Like adder darting from his coil,</p> + </div> + </div> + + +<p class="cont">and by travellers <i>passim</i>. +</p> +<p> +This is the true faith with respect to all serpents, and if you are +resolved to remain steadfast in it, you may do so even in India, for it +is possible to live in that country for months, I might almost say +years, without ever getting a sight of a live snake except in the basket +of a snake-charmer. If, however, you are minded to cultivate an +acquaintance with them, it is not difficult to find opportunities of +doing so, but I must warn you that it will be with jeopardy to your +faith, for the very first thing that will strike you about them will +probably be their cleanness. What has become of the classical slime I +cannot tell, but it is a fact that the skin of a modern snake is always +delightfully dry and clean, and as smooth to the touch as velvet. +</p> +<p> +The next thing that attracts attention is their beauty, not so much the +beauty of their colours as of their forms. With few exceptions, snakes +are the most graceful of living things. Every position into which they +put themselves, and every motion of their perfectly proportioned forms, +is artistic. The effect of this is enhanced by their gentleness and the +softness of their movements. +</p> +<p> +But if you want to see them properly, you must be careful not to +frighten them, for there is no creature more timid at heart than a +snake. One will sometimes let you get quite near to it and watch it, +simply because it does not notice you, being rather deaf and very +shortsighted, but when it does discover your presence, its one thought +is to slip away quietly and hide itself. It is on account of this +extreme timidity that we see them so seldom. +</p> +<p> +Of the two hundred and thirty-seven kinds that I have referred to, some +are, of course, very rare, or only found in particular parts of the +country, but at least forty or fifty of them occur everywhere, and some +are as plentiful as crows. Yet they keep themselves out of our way so +successfully that it is quite a rare event to meet with one. +Occasionally one finds its way into a house in quest of frogs, lizards, +musk-rats, or some other of the numerous malefactors that use our +dwellings as cities of refuge from the avenger, and it is discovered by +the Hamal behind a cupboard, or under a carpet. He does the one thing +which it occurs to a native to do in any emergency—viz. raises an +alarm. Then there is a general hubbub, servants rush together with the +longest sticks they can find, the children are hurried away to a place +of safety, the master appears on the scene, armed with his gun, and the +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p> Wee, sleekit, cowrin', tim'rous beastie,</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +trying to slip away from the fuss which it dislikes so much, is headed, +and blown, or battered, to pieces. Then its head is pounded to a jelly, +for the servants are agreed that, if this precaution is omitted, it will +revive during the night and come and coil itself on the chest of its +murderer. +</p> +<p> +Finally a council is held and a unanimous resolution recorded that +deceased was a serpent of the deadliest kind. This is not a lie, for +they believe it; but in the great majority of cases it is an untruth. Of +our two hundred and thirty-seven kinds of snakes only forty-four are +ranked by naturalists as venomous, and many of these are quite incapable +of killing any animal as large as a man. Others are very rare or local. +In short, we may reckon the poisonous snakes with which we have any +practical concern at four kinds, and the chance of a snake found in the +house belonging to one of these kinds stands at less than one in ten. +</p> +<p> +It is a sufficiently terrible thought, however, that there are even four +kinds of reptiles going silently about the land whose bite is certain +death. If they knew their powers and were maliciously disposed, our life +in the East would be like Christian's progress through the Valley of the +Shadow of Death. But the poisonous snakes are just as timid as the rest, +and as little inclined to act on the offensive against any living +creature except the little animals on which they prey. Even a trodden +worm will turn, and a snake has as much spirit as a worm. If a man +treads on it, it will turn and bite him. But it has no desire to be +trodden on. It does its best to avoid that mischance, and, I need +scarcely say, so does a man unless he is drunk. When both parties are +sincerely anxious to avoid a collision, a collision is not at all likely +to occur, and the fact is that, of all forms of death to which we are +exposed in India, death by snake-bite is about the one which we have +least reason to apprehend. +</p> +<p> +During a pretty long residence in India I have heard of only one +instance of an Englishman being killed by a snake. It was in Manipur, +and I read of it in the newspapers. During the same time I have heard of +only one death by lightning and one by falling into the fermenting vat +of a brewery, so I suppose these accidents are equally uncommon. Eating +oysters is much more fatal: I have heard of at least four or five deaths +from that cause. +</p> +<p> +The natives are far more exposed to danger from snakes than we are, +because they go barefoot, by night as well as day, through fields and +along narrow, overgrown footpaths about their villages. The tread of a +barefooted man does not make noise enough to warn a snake to get out of +his way, and if he treads on one, there is nothing between its fangs and +his skin. Again, the huts of the natives, being made of wattle and daub +and thatched with straw, offer to snakes just the kind of shelter that +they like, and the wonder is that naked men, sleeping on the ground in +such places, and poking about dark corners, among their stores of fuel +and other chattels, meet with so few accidents. It says a great deal for +the mild and inoffensive nature of the snake. Still, the total number of +deaths by snake-bite reported every year is very large, and looks +absolutely appalling if you do not think of dividing it among three +hundred millions. Treated in that way it shrivels up at once, and when +compared with the results of other causes of death, looks quite +insignificant. +</p> +<p> +The natives themselves are so far from regarding the serpent tribe with +our feelings that the deadliest of them all has been canonised and is +treated with all the respect due to a sub-deity. No Brahmin, or +religious-minded man of any respectable caste, will have a cobra killed +on any account. If one takes to haunting his premises, he will +propitiate it with offerings of silk and look for good luck from its +patronage. +</p> +<p> +About snakes other than the cobra the average native concerns himself so +little that he does not know one from another by sight. They are all +classed together as <i>janwar,</i> a word which answers exactly to the +"venomous beast" of Acts xxviii. 4; and though they are aware that some +are deadly and some are not, any particular snake that a <i>sahib</i> has had +the honour to kill is one of the deadliest as a matter of course. I have +never met a native who knew that a venomous snake could be distinguished +by its fangs, except a few doctors and educated men who have imbibed +western science. In fact they do not think of the venom as a material +substance situated in the mouth. It is an effluence from the entire +animal, which may be projected at a man in various ways, by biting him, +or spitting at him, or giving him a flick with the tail. +</p> +<p> +The Government of India spends a large sum of money every year in +rewards for the destruction of snakes. This is one of those sacrifices +to sentiment which every prudent government offers. The sentiment to +which respect is paid in this case is of course British, not Indian. +Indian sentiment is propitiated by not levying any tax on dogs, so the +pariah cur, owned and disowned, in all stages of starvation, mange and +disease, infests every town and village, lying in wait for the bacillus +of rabies. Against the one fatal case of snake-bite mentioned above, I +have known of at least half a dozen deaths among Englishmen from the +more horrible scourge of hydrophobia. In the steamer which brought me +home there were two private soldiers on their way to M. Pasteur, at the +expense, of course, of the British Government. +</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_101"><!-- RULE4 10 --></a> +<h2> + X +</h2> + +<center> +THE INDIAN SNAKE-CHARMER +</center> +<p> +We must wait for another month or two before we can think of the winter +in this country in the past tense, but in India the month of March is +the beginning of the hot season, and the tourists who have been enjoying +the pleasant side of Anglo-Indian life and assuring themselves that +their exiled countrymen have not much to grumble at will now be making +haste to flee. +</p> +<p> +During the month the various hotels of Bombay will be pretty familiar +with the grey sun-hat, fortified with <i>puggaree</i> and pendent flap, which +is the sign of the globe-trotter in the East. And all the tribe of birds +of prey who look upon him as their lawful spoil will recognise the sign +from afar and gather about him as he sits in the balcony after +breakfast, taking his last view of the gorgeous East, and perhaps (it is +to be feared) seeking inspiration for a few matured reflections +wherewith to bring the forthcoming book to an impressive close. The +vendor of Delhi jewellery will be there and the Sind-work-box-walla, +with his small, compressed white turban and spotless robes, and the +Cashmere shawl merchant and many more, pressing on the gentleman's +notice for the last time their most tempting wares and preparing for the +long bout of fence which will decide at what point between "asking +price" and "selling price" each article shall change ownership. The +distance between these two points is wide and variable, depending upon +the indications of wealth about the purchaser's person and the +indications of innocence about his countenance. +</p> +<p> +And when the poor globe-trotter, who has long since spent more money +than he ever meant to spend, and loaded himself with things which he +could have got cheaper in London or New York, tries to shake off his +tormentors by getting up and leaning over the balcony rails, the shrill +voice of the snake-charmer will assail him from below, promising him, in +a torrent of sonorous Hindustanee, variegated with pigeon English and +illuminated with wild gesticulations, such a superfine <i>tamasha</i> as it +never was the fortune of the <i>sahib</i> to witness before. +</p> +<p> +<i>Tamasha</i> is one of those Indian words, like <i>bundobust</i>, for which +there is no equivalent in the English language, and which are at once so +comprehensive and so expressive that, when once the use of them has been +acquired, they become indispensable, so that they have gained a +permanent place in the Anglo-Indian's vocabulary. It is not slang, but a +good word of ancient origin. Hobson-Jobson quotes a curious Latin writer +on the Empire of the Grand Mogul, who uses it with a definition +appended, "ut spectet Thamasham, id est pugnas elephantorum, leonum, +buffalorum et aliarura ferarum." "Show" comes nearest it in English, but +falls far short of it. +</p> +<p> +The <i>tamasha</i> which the snake-charmer promises the <i>sahib</i> will include +serpent dances, a fight between a cobra and a mungoose, the inevitable +mango tree, and other tricks of juggling. But to a stranger the +snake-charmer himself is a better <i>tamasha</i> than anything he can show. +He is indeed a most extraordinary animal. His hair and beard are long +and unkempt, his general aspect wild, his clothing a mixture of savagery +and the wreckage of civilisation. He wears a turban, of course, and +generally a large one; but it is put on without art, just wound about +his head anyhow, and hanging lopsidedly over one ear. It and the loose +cloth wrapped about the middle of him are as dirty as may be and truly +Oriental, though erratic. But, besides these, he wears a jacket of +coloured calico, or any other material, with one button fastened, +probably on the wrong buttonhole, and under this, if the weather is +cold, he may have a shirt seemingly obtained from some Indian +representative of Moses & Co. +</p> +<p> +On his shoulder he carries a long bamboo, from the ends of which hang +villainously shabby baskets, some flat and round, occupied by snakes, +others large and oblong, filled with apparatus of jugglery. The members +of his family, down to an unclothed, precocious imp of ten, accompany +him, carrying similar baskets, or capacious wallets, or long, +cylindrical drums, on which they play with their fingers. The dramatic +effect of the whole is enhanced when one of them allows a huge python, a +snake of the <i>Boa constrictor</i> tribe, which kills its prey by crushing +it, to wind its hideous, speckled coils round his body. +</p> +<p> +What the snake-charmer is by race or origin ethnologists may determine +when they have done with the gipsy. He is not a Hindu. No particular +part of the country acknowledges him as its native. He is to the great +races, castes, and creeds of India what the waif is to the billows of +the sea. His language, in public at least, is Hindustanee, but this is a +sort of <i>lingua franca</i>, the common property of all the inhabitants of +the country. His religion is probably one of the many forms of demon +worship which grow rank on the fringes of Hinduism. He must be classed, +no doubt, with the other wandering tribes which roam the country, +camping under umbrellas, or something little better, each consecrated to +some particular form of common crime, and each professing some not in +itself dishonest occupation, like the tinkering of gipsies. +</p> +<p> +But the snake-charmer is the best known and most widely spread of them +all. By occupation he is a professor of three occult sciences. First, he +is a juggler, and in this art he has some skill. His masterpiece is the +famous mango trick, which consists in making a miniature mango tree +grow up in a few minutes, and even blossom and bear fruit, out of some +bare spot which he has covered with his mysterious basket. It has been +written about by travellers in extravagant terms of astonishment and +admiration, but, as generally performed, is an extremely clumsy-looking +trick, though it is undoubtedly difficult to guess how it is done. A +more blood-curdling feat is to put the unclothed and precocious imp +aforementioned under a large basket, and then run a sword savagely +through and through every corner of it, and draw it out covered with +gore. When the sickened spectators are about to lynch the murderer, the +imp runs in smiling from the garden gate. +</p> +<p> +The connection between these performances and the man's second trade, +namely, snake-charming, is not obvious to a Western mind; but it must be +remembered that the snake-charmer is not a mere, vulgar juggler, amusing +people with sleight-of-hand. His feats are miracles, performed with the +assistance of superior powers. In short, he is a theosophist, only his +converse is not with excorporated Mahatmas from Thibet, but with spirits +of another grade, whose Superior has been known from very remote +antiquity as an Old Serpent. In deference to this respectable connection +the cobra holds a distinguished place even in orthodox Hinduism. So it +is altogether fit that a performer of wonders should be on intimate +terms with the serpent tribe. The snake-charmer keeps all sorts of +them, but chiefly cobras. These he professes to charm from their holes +by playing upon an instrument which may have some hereditary connection +with the bagpipe, for it has an air-reservoir consisting of a large +gourd, and it makes a most abominable noise. As soon as the cobra shows +itself the charmer catches it by the tail with one hand, and, running +the other swiftly along its body, grips it firmly just behind the jaws, +so that it cannot turn and bite. Practice and coolness make this an easy +feat. Then the poison fangs are pulled out with a pair of forceps and +the cobra is quite harmless. It is kept in a round, flat basket, out of +which, when the charmer removes the lid and begins to play, it raises +its graceful head, and, expanding its hood, sways gently in response to +the music. +</p> +<p> +Scientific men aver that a snake has no ears and cannot possibly hear +the strains of the pipe, but that sort of science simply spoils a +picturesque subject like the snake-charmer. So much is certain, that all +snakes cannot be played upon in this way: there are some species which +are utterly callous to the influences to which the cobra yields itself +so readily. No missionary will find any difficulty in getting a +snake-charmer to appreciate that Scripture text about the deaf adder +which will not listen to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so +wisely. +</p> +<p> +To these two occupations the snake-charmer adds that of a medicine man, +for who should know the occult potencies of herbs and trees so well as +he? So, as he wanders from village to village, he is welcomed as well as +feared. But one wealthy tourist is worth more to him than a whole +village of ryots, so he keeps his eye on every town in which he is +likely to fall in with the travelling white man. And the travelling +white man would be sorry to miss him, for he is one of the few relics of +an ancient state of things which railways and telegraphs and the +Educational Department have left unchanged. +</p> +<p> +The itinerant jeweller and the Sind-work-box-walla are unmistakably +being left behind as the East hurries after the West, and we shall soon +know them no more. Showy shops, where the inexperienced traveller may +see all the products of Sind and Benares, and Cutch and Cashmere, spread +before him at fixed prices, are multiplying rapidly and taking the bread +from the mouth of the poor hawker. But the snake-charmer seems safe from +that kind of competition. It is difficult to forecast a time when a +broad signboard in Rampart Row will invite the passer-by to visit Mr. +Nagshett's world-renowned Serpent Tamasha, Mungoose and Cobra Fight, +Mango-tree Illusion, etc. Entrance, one rupee. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_10"><!-- RULE4 10 --></a> +<h2> + XI +</h2> + +<center> +CURES FOR SNAKE-BITE +</center> +<p> +In a little book on the snakes of India, published many years ago by Dr. +Nicholson of the Madras Medical Service, the conviction was expressed +that the snake-charmers of Burmah knew of some antidote to the poison of +the cobra which gave them confidence in handling it. He said that +nothing would induce them to divulge it, but that he suspected it +consisted in gradual inoculation with the venom itself. Putting the +question to himself why he did not attempt to attest this by experiment, +he replied that there were two reasons, which, if I recollect rightly, +were, first, that he had a strong natural repugnance to anything like +cruelty to animals, and, secondly, that he had observed that as soon as +a man got the notion into his head that he had discovered a cure for +snake-bite, he began to show symptoms of insanity. +</p> +<p> +It is rather remarkable that, after so many years, another Scottish +doctor, not in Madras, but in Edinburgh, has proved, by just such +experiments as Dr. Nicholson shrank from, that an "aged and previously +sedate horse" may, by gradual inoculation with cobra poison, be +rendered so thoroughly proof against it that a dose which would suffice +to kill ten ordinary horses only imparts "increased vigour and +liveliness" to it. Further, Dr. Fraser has found that the serum of the +blood of an animal thus rendered proof against poison is itself an +antidote capable of combating that poison after it has been at work for +thirty minutes in the veins of a rabbit, and arresting its effects. And +all this has been achieved without apparent detriment to the +distinguished doctor's sanity. +</p> +<p> +This must be intensely interesting intelligence to Englishmen throughout +India, and joyful intelligence too, for, scoff as we may at the danger +of being bitten by a poisonous snake, nobody likes to think that, if +such a thing <i>should</i> happen to him (and very narrow escapes sometimes +remind us that it may), there would be nothing for him to do but to lie +down and die. And so, ever since the Honourable East India Company was +chartered, the antidote to snake poison has been a sort of philosopher's +stone, sought after by doctors and men of science along many lines of +investigation. And every now and then somebody has risen up and +announced that he has found it, and has had disciples for a season. +</p> +<p> +But one remedy after another, though it might give startling results in +the laboratory, has proved to be useless in common life, and the +majority of Englishmen have long since resigned themselves to the +conclusion that there is no practical cure for the bite of a poisonous +snake. For what avails it to carry about in your travelling bag a phial +of strong ammonia and to live in more jeopardy of death by asphyxiation +than you ever were by snakes, unless you have some guarantee that, when +it is your fate to be bitten by a snake, the phial will be at hand? For +ammonia must act on the venom before the venom has had time to act upon +you, or it will only add another pain to your end; and that gives only a +few minutes to go upon. So with nitric acid and every agent that +operates by neutralising the poison and not by counteracting its +effects. And this has been the character of all the remedies hitherto +put forward. "They are," says Sir Joseph Fayrer, "absolutely without any +specific effect on the condition produced by the poison." +</p> +<p> +But "anti-venene," as Dr. Fraser calls his immunised blood-serum, +follows the poison into the system, even after the fatal symptoms have +begun to show themselves, and arrests them at once. So the Anglo-Indian +may throw away his ammonia phial and, arming himself with another of +anti-venene and a hypodermic syringe, feel that he is safe against an +accident which will never happen. As for the man who is not nervous, he +will speak of the new antidote, and think of it as most interesting and +valuable, and go on his way as before with no expectation of ever being +bitten by a venomous snake. The medical man of every degree will order +a supply as soon as it is to be had, and conscientiously try to stamp +out the smouldering hope within him that somebody in the station will +soon be bitten by a cobra and give him a chance. +</p> +<p> +Among the dusky millions of India Dr. Fraser's discovery will create no +"catholic ravishment" because they will not hear of it. And if they did +hear of it they would regard his labours as misapplied and the result as +superfluous. For the Hindu has never shared the Englishman's opinion +that there is no cure for snake-bite. On the contrary, he is assured +that there are not one or two but many specifics for the bite of every +kind of snake, known to those whose business it is to know them. If they +are not invariably efficacious, it is for the simple reason that if a +man's time has come to die he will die. But if his time has not come to +die they will not fail to cure him, and since no man can know when he is +bitten whether his time has come or not, he will lay the odds against +Fate by trying, not one or another of them, but as many as he can hear +of or get. Some of them are drastic in their effects, and so it too +often proves that the poor man's time has indeed come, for though he +might survive the snake he succumbs to the cure. +</p> +<p> +It is many years now since the news was brought to me one day that a man +whom I knew very well had been bitten by a deadly serpent and was dying. +He was a fine, strongly built young fellow, a Mohammedan, in the employ +of a Parsee liquor distiller, in whose godown he was arranging firewood +when he was bitten in the foot. Without looking at the snake he rushed +out and, falling on his face on the ground, implored the bystanders to +take care of his wife and children as he was a dead man. The news spread +and all the village ran together. The man was taken to an open room in +his employer's premises and vigorous measures for his recovery were set +on foot, in which his employer's family and servants, his own friends +and as many of the general public as chose to look in, were allowed to +take part. +</p> +<p> +First of all, some jungle men were called in, for the man of the jungle +must naturally know more about snakes than other men. These were +probably Katkurrees, an aboriginal race, who live by woodcutting, +hunting and other sylvan occupations. They proved to be practical men +and at once sucked the wound. An intelligent Havildar of the Customs +Department, who chanced to be present, then lanced the wound slightly to +let the blood flow, and tied the leg tightly in two places above it. +This was admirable. If what the jungle men and the Havildar did were +always and promptly done whenever a man is bitten by a snake, few such +accidents would end fatally. +</p> +<p> +But this poor man's friends did not stop there. A supply of chickens had +been procured with all haste, and these were scientifically applied. +This is a remedy in which the natives have great faith, and I have known +Europeans who were convinced of its efficacy. The manner of its +application scarcely admits of description in these pages, but the +effect is that the chickens absorb the poison and die, while the man +lives. The number of chickens required is a gauge of the virulence of +the serpent, for as soon as the venom is all extracted they cease to +die. Nobody, however, could tell me how many chickens perished in this +case. They were all too busy to stop and note the result of one remedy +while another remained untried. And there were many yet. +</p> +<p> +Somebody suggested that the venom should be dislodged from the patient's +stomach, so an emetic was administered in the form of a handful of +common salt, with immediate and seismic effect. Then a decoction of +<i>neem</i> leaves was poured down the man's throat. The <i>neem</i> tree is an +enemy of all fevers and a friend of man generally, so much so that it is +healthful to sleep under its shade. Therefore a decoction of the leaves +could not fail to be beneficial in one way or another. The residue of +the leaves was well rubbed into the crown of the man's head for more +direct effect on the brains in case they might be affected. Something +else was rubbed in under the root of the tongue. +</p> +<p> +In the meantime a man with some experience in exorcism had brought twigs +of a tree of well-ascertained potency in expelling the devil, and +advised that, in view of the known connection between serpents and +Satan, it would be well to try beating the patient with these. The +advice was taken, and many stripes were laid upon him. Massage was also +tried, and other homely expedients, such as bandaging and thumping with +the fists, were not neglected. +</p> +<p> +It was about noon when I was told of the accident, and I went down at +once and found the poor man in a woeful state, as well he might be after +such rough handling as he had suffered for four consecutive hours; but +he was quite conscious and there was neither pain nor swelling in the +bitten foot. I remonstrated most vigorously, pointing out that the +snake, which nobody had seen, might not have been a venomous one at all, +that there were no symptoms of poisoning, except such as might also be +explained by the treatment the man had suffered at the hands of his +friends, and that, in short, I could see no reason to think he was going +to die unless they were determined to kill him. +</p> +<p> +My words appeared to produce a good effect on the Parsees at least, and +they consented to stop curing the man and let him rest, giving him such +stimulating refreshment as he would take, for he was a pious Mussulman +and would not touch wine or spirits. I said what I could to cheer him +up, and went away hoping that I had saved a human life. Alas! In an hour +or so a friend came in with a root of rare virtue and persuaded the man +to swallow some preparation of it. <i>Post hoc</i>, whether <i>propter hoc</i> I +dare not say, he became unconscious and sank. Before night he was +buried. +</p> +<p> +All this did not happen in some obscure village in a remote jungle. It +happened within a mile and a half of a town controlled by a municipal +corporation which enjoys the rights and privileges of "local +self-government." In that town there was a dispensary, with a very +capable assistant-surgeon in charge, and in that dispensary I doubt not +you would have found a bottle of strong <i>liquor ammoniæ</i> and a printed +copy of the directions issued by a paternal Government for the recovery +of persons bitten by venomous serpents. But when the man was bitten the +one thing which occurred to nobody was to take him there, and when I +heard of the matter the assistant-surgeon had just left for a distant +place, passing on his way the gate of the house in which the man lay. +This was a bad case, but there is little reason to hope that it was +altogether exceptional. I am afraid there can be no question at all that +hundreds of the deaths put down to snake-bite by village punchayets +every year might with more truth be registered as "cured to death." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_11"><!-- RULE4 11 --></a> +<h2> + XII +</h2> + +<center> +THE COBRA BUNGALOW +</center> +<center> +A STORY OF A MONEYLENDER +</center> +<p> +Beharil Surajmul was the greatest moneylender in Dowlutpoor. He was a +man of rare talents. He remembered the face of every man who had at any +time come to borrow money of him since he began to work, as a little +boy, in his father's office, so that it was impossible to deceive him. +He had also such a miraculous skill in the making out of accounts that a +poor man who had come to him in extremity for a loan of fifty rupees, to +meet the expenses of his daughter's marriage, might go on making +payments for the remainder of his life without reducing the debt by one +rupee. In fact, it seemed to increase with each payment. +</p> +<p> +And if the matter went into court, Beharilal never failed to show that +there was still a balance due to him much larger than the original loan. +But so courteous and pleasant was the Seth in his manner to all that +such matters never went into court until the right time, of which he was +an infallible judge, for he knew the private affairs of every family in +Dowlutpoor. Then a decree was obtained and the debtor's house, or land, +was sold to defray the debt, Beharilal himself being usually the +purchaser, though not, of course, in his own name, for he was a prudent +man. +</p> +<p> +By these means Beharilal had become possessed of large estates, which he +managed with such skill that they yielded to him revenues which they had +never yielded to the former owners of them, while his tenants, who were +mostly former owners, grew daily more deeply involved in their pecuniary +obligations to him, and therefore entertained no thought of leaving him, +for he could put them into prison any day if he chose. Their contentment +gave him great satisfaction, and he treated them with benevolence, +giving them advances of money for all their necessary expenses and +appropriating the whole of their crops at the harvest to repay himself. +He bound them to buy all that they had need of at his shop, so that he +made profit off them on both sides. +</p> +<p> +And as his wealth increased, his person increased with it and his +appearance became more imposing, so that he was regarded everywhere with +the highest respect and esteem. He was, moreover, a very religious man +and charitable beyond most. By early risers he might be seen in his +garden seeking out the nests of ants and giving them, with his own +hands, their daily dole of rice. It was his benevolent thoughtfulness +which had supplied drinking troughs for the flocks of pigeons that +continually plundered the stores of the other grain merchants. He had +also established a pinjrapole for aged, sickly and ownerless animals of +all kinds. To this he required all his tenants to send their bullocks +when they became unfit for work, and he sold them new cattle, good and +strong, at prices fixed by himself. If any of his old debtors, when +reduced to beggary, came to his door for alms, they were never sent away +without a handful of rice or a copper coin. He kept a bag of the +smallest copper coins always at hand for such purposes. +</p> +<p> +Beharilal had a fine house, designed by himself and surrounded by a vast +garden stocked with mangoes, guavas, custard apples, oranges and other +fruit trees, and made beautiful and fragrant with all manner of flowers. +The cool shade drew together birds of many kinds from the dry plains of +the surrounding country, and it pleased Beharilal to think that they +also were recipients of his bounty and that the benefits which he +conferred on them would certainly be entered to the credit of his +account with Heaven. +</p> +<p> +Some he fed, such as the crows, which flocked about the back door, like +a convocation of Christian padres, in the morning and afternoon, when +the ladies of his family gave out their portion of boiled rice and ghee. +The pigeons also came together in hundreds in an open space under the +shade of a noble peepul tree, where grain was thrown out for them at +three o'clock every day; and among them were many chattering sparrows +and not a few green parrots, which walked quaintly among the bustling +pigeons, their long tails moving from side to side like the pointer of +the scale on which the Bunia weighed his rupees. This resemblance struck +him as he reclined against the fat red cushion in his verandah summing +up his gains. There were other birds which would not eat his food, but +found abundance, suited to their respective castes, among the shrubs and +trees that he had planted. Mynas walked eagerly on the lawns looking for +grasshoppers, glittering sunbirds hovered over the flowers, thrusting +their slender bills into each nectar-laden blossom, bulbuls twittered +among the mulberries and the koel made the shady banian tree resound +with its melodious notes. +</p> +<p> +In a remote corner of the garden, under the dark shade of a tamarind, +there stood a small shrine, like a whitewashed tomb, with a niche or +recess on one side of it containing a conical stone smeared with red +ochre. Some called it Mahadeo and some Khandoba, but no one could +explain the presence of a Mahratta god in a Bunia's garden in +Dowlutpoor, except by quoting an old tradition about one Narayen who had +come from the Mahratta country and lived for many years in this place. +Some said he was a prosperous goldsmith of great piety, but others +maintained that he was a Sunyasee, or saint, and there was no certainty +in the matter. The one point on which all were agreed was the great +sanctity of the shrine, and Beharilal was most careful to perform at it +every ceremony which custom, or tradition, sanctioned for placating the +god and averting any calamity that might arise from his displeasure. +</p> +<p> +At the base of one of the old cracked walls of the shrine there was a +hole which was the den of a very large, black cobra. Several times it +had been seen in the garden, and, when pursued, had glided into this +hole and escaped. When Beharilal first heard of it he was much troubled +in his mind, but, having consulted a Brahmin, he gave strict injunctions +that the reptile should not be molested, and since that time he had +never failed to place an offering of milk near to the hole in the +morning and in the evening. +</p> +<p> +Now it happened that at this time there was in Dowlutpoor an English +doctor who was generally known as the Jadoo-walla Saheb, because he was +believed to practise sorcery and had some mysterious need of snakes. +Perhaps he was only making experiments with their venom. At any rate, he +wanted live cobras and offered a good price for them. So when Nagoo, the +snake-charmer, heard that there was a large one in Beharilal's garden, +he thought he might do good business by capturing it for the Jadoo-walla +Saheb, and at the same time demanding a reward from the timorous Bunia +for ridding him of such a dangerous neighbour. With this intent he +repaired to the garden with all the apparatus of his art, his flat +snake baskets, his mongoose and his crooked pipe. Having reconnoitred +the ground, he commenced operations by sitting down on his hams and +producing such ear-splitting strains from the crooked pipe as might have +charmed Cerberus to leave his kennel at the gate of hell. Great was his +surprise and mortification when he heard the voice of Beharilal raised +in tones of unwonted passion and saw a stalwart Purdaisee advancing +towards him armed with an iron-bound lathee, who, without ceremony, nay, +with abusive epithets, hustled him and all his gear out of the garden. +Nagoo was a snake-charmer and by nature a gipsy, and this treatment +rankled in his dark bosom. +</p> +<p> +Some weeks passed and the sun had scarcely risen when Beharilal sat in +the ota in front of his house at his daily business, which began as soon +as his teeth were cleaned and ended about eleven at night. The place was +not tidy. Two or three mats were spread on the floor, a spare one was +rolled up in a corner, several pairs of shoes were on the steps, +umbrellas leaned against the wall, handles downwards, and a large chatty +of drinking water stood beside them. The Bunia himself, bare-headed and +bare-footed, sat cross-legged on a cushion, with a wooden stool in front +of him, on which lay an open ledger of stout yellowish paper, bound in +soft red leather and nearly two feet in length. In this he was carefully +entering yesterday's transactions with a reed pen, which he dipped +frequently in a brass inkpot filled with a sponge soaked in a muddy +black fluid. +</p> +<p> +Beside him sat his son, aged two years, playing with the red, lacquered +cylinder in which he kept his reed pens. Beharilal had two girls also, +but they were with the women folk in the interior of the house, where he +was content they should stay. This was his only boy, the pride and joy +of his heart. Engrossed as he was in recording his gains, he could not +refrain from lifting his eyes now and again to feast them on that rotund +little body, like a goblet set on two pillars. No clothing concealed the +tense and shiny brown skin, but there were silver bracelets on the fat +wrists and massive anklets where deep creases divided the fat little +feet from the fat little legs, and a representation, in chased silver, +of Eve's fig leaf hung from a silver chain which encircled the sphere +that should have been his waist. His globular head was curiously shaven. +From two deep pits between the bulging brow and the fat cheeks that +nearly squeezed out the little nose between them, two black diamonds +twinkled, full of wonder, as the small purse mouth prattled to itself +softly and inarticulately of the mysteries of life. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly a startled cry, passing into a prolonged wail of fear, roused +old Beharilal, and he saw a sight that nearly caused him to swoon with +terror. The little man, a moment ago so placid and happy, was shrinking +back with "I don't like that thing" inscribed in lines of anguish on +his distorted face, and not three feet from him a huge cobra, just +emerged from the roll of matting, eyed him with a stony stare, its head +raised and its hood expanded. Its quivering tongue flickered out from +between its lips like distant flashes of forked lightning. +</p> +<p> +For a moment Beharilal stood stupefied, then all the heroism that was in +him spent itself at once. Seizing the heavy wooden stool in both his +hands, he raised it high over his head and dashed it down on the +reptile. The sharp edge of hard wood broke its back, and as it wriggled +and lashed about, biting at everything within reach, the Bunia snatched +up his boy and waddled into the house at a pace to which he had long +been unaccustomed, calling out, in frantic gasps, for help. A rush of +excited and screaming women met him in the inner court, and he dropped +his precious burden, with pious ejaculations, into the arms of its +mother, and stood panting and speechless. Then calling aloud to know if +all danger was past, he ventured cautiously out again and saw that the +Purdaisee and the Malee had ejected the wriggling cobra and were +pounding its head into a jelly with a big stone. +</p> +<p> +For some seconds he looked on in a strange stupor, and then he realised +what he had done. He, Beharilal, the Bunia, who had always removed the +insects so tenderly from his own person that they were not hurt, who had +never committed the sin of killing a mosquito or a fly; he, with his own +hands, had taken the life of the guardian cobra of the shrine! +"Urray-ray! Bap-ray!" he cried, "for what demerit of mine has this +ill-luck befallen me in my old age? What will happen now?" +</p> +<p> +"Nay, Sethjkee," said the Malee, "be not afraid. It was in your destiny +that this offspring of Satan should come to its end by your hand. We +have pounded its head properly, so it will not return to you," +</p> +<p> +"But what of its mate?" said Beharilal. "I have heard that, if any man +kills a cobra, its mate will follow him by day and by night until it has +had its revenge. Is that not so?" +</p> +<p> +The Malee answered, "Chh, Chh! There is no mate of this cobra," but his +tone was not confident. +</p> +<p> +"Go," cried Beharilal—"go quickly and call Nagoo, the snake-charmer. He +has knowledge." +</p> +<p> +"I will go," said the Malee, and set off at a run; but when he got out +of the gate he lapsed into a leisurely walk, for why should a man lose +his breath without cause? In time he found his way to the little +settlement of huts constructed of poles and mats, where Nagoo sat on the +ground smoking his "chillum," and told his errand. +</p> +<p> +"Why should I come?" was Nagoo's reply; "I went to take away that cobra +and the Bunia drove me from the garden with abuse. Why does he send for +me now?" +</p> +<p> +"He is a Bunia," said the Malee, as if that summed up the whole matter; +but he added, after a pause, "If he sees a burning ground, he shakes +like a peepul leaf. The cobra has died by his hand and his liver has +become like water. Whatever you ask he will give. You should come," +</p> +<p> +Nagoo replied aloud, "I will come," and to himself, "I will give him +physic." Then he took up his baskets and his pipe and followed the +Malee. +</p> +<p> +Beharilal proceeded to business with a directness foreign to his habit, +looking over his shoulder at intervals lest a snake might be silently +approaching. "Good Nagoo," he said, "a great misfortune has happened. +The cobra of the shrine has been killed. Has it a mate?" +</p> +<p> +"How can a cobra not have a mate?" answered Nagoo curtly. +</p> +<p> +Then Beharilal employed the most insinuating of the many tones of his +voice. "Listen, Nagoo. You are a man of skill. Capture that cobra and I +will pay you well. I will give you five rupees." Then, observing no +response in the wrinkled visage of the charmer, "I will give you ten +rupees." +</p> +<p> +Nagoo would have sold his revenge for a tithe of the wealth thus dangled +before him, but he saw no reason to suppose that there was another cobra +anywhere in the garden, so he answered with the calm confidence of an +expert, "That cannot be done. The serpent will not heed any pipe now. In +its mind there is only revenge." +</p> +<p> +"Then what will it do?" said the trembling Bunia. +</p> +<p> +"If its mate died by the hand of a man, it will follow that man until +it has accomplished its purpose." +</p> +<p> +"But how will it know," asked Beharilal, "by whose hand its mate died?" +</p> +<p> +Nagoo replied with pious simplicity, "How can I tell by what means it +knows? God informs it." +</p> +<p> +"But," pleaded Beharilal, "is there no escape?—if a man goes away by +the railway or by water?" +</p> +<p> +Nagoo pondered for a moment and said, "If a man crossed the sea, the +serpent would be baulked. If he goes by railway it will not leave him. +Let him go to Madras, it will find him." +</p> +<p> +With a faltering hand the Bunia put some rupees, uncounted, into the +charmer's skinny palm, saying, "Go, make incantations. Do something. +There is great knowledge of mysteries with you"; and he hurried back +into the house. +</p> +<p> +His arrangements were very soon made. His account books, with a bundle +of bonds and hoondies and cash and his son, were put into a small cart +drawn by a pair of fast trotting bullocks, into which he himself +climbed, after looking under the cushion to see that there was no evil +beast lurking there, and got away in haste while the sun was yet hot. +The rest of the family followed with the household property, and in a +few days the house was empty and only the Malee remained in charge. Many +years have passed and the house is empty still, and the Malee, grown +grey and frail, is still in charge. He gets no wages, but he sells the +jasmine flowers and the mangoes and guavas, and he grows chillies and +brinjals, and so fills the stomachs of himself and his little grandson +and is contented. If you ask him where the Seth has gone, he replies, +"Who knows?" His debt has gone with his creditor, "gone glimmering +through the dream of things that were," and he has no desire to recall +them. +</p> +<p> +A civil or military officer from the station, taking a solitary walk, +sometimes finds himself at the Cobra Bungalow, and turns in to wander +among its old trees and unswept paths, obstructed by overgrown and +untended shrubs, and wonders how it got its name. Then he pauses at the +whitewashed shrine and notes that the god-stone has been freshly painted +red and that chaplets of faded flowers lie before it. But the old Malee +approaches with a meek salaam and a posy of jasmine and marigolds and +warns him that there is a cobra in the shrine. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_12"><!-- RULE4 12 --></a> +<h2> + XIII +</h2> + +<center> +THE PANTHER I DID NOT SHOOT +</center> +<p> +It was January 13 of a good many years ago, in those happy days that +have "gone glimmering through the dream of things that were." The sun +had scarcely risen, and I was sitting in the cosy cabin of my yacht +enjoying my "chota hazree," which, being interpreted, means "lesser +presence," and in Anglo-Indian speech signifies an "eye-opener" of tea +and toast—the greater presence appears some hours later and we call it +breakfast. I will not say that the view from my cabin windows was +enchanting. The placid waters of the broad creek would have been +pleasant to look upon if the level rays of the sun in his strength had +not skimmed them with such a blinding glare, but the low, flat-topped +hills that bounded them were forbidding. +</p> +<p> +The people said truly that God had made this a country of stones, but +they forgot that He had clothed the stones with trees of evergreen +foliage and a dense undergrowth of shrubs and grass, to protect and hold +together the thick bed of loam which the fallen leaves enriched from +year to year. It was the axes of their fathers that felled the trees, +to sell for fuel, and the billhooks of their mothers that hacked away +the bushes and grubbed up their very roots to burn on the household +cooking hole. Then the torrential rains of the south-west monsoon came +down on the naked, defenceless, parched and cracked soil and swept it in +muddy cascades down to the sea, leaving flats of bare rock, strewn thick +with round stones, sore to the best-shod foot of man and cruel to the +hoofs of a horse. About and among the huts of the unswept and malodorous +hamlet just above the shore there were fine trees, mango, tamarind, +babool and bor, showing what might have been elsewhere. +</p> +<p> +On the rounded top of the highest hill frowned in black ruin an old +Mahratta fort, covered on the top and sides and choked within by that +dense mass of struggling vegetation which always takes possession of old +forts in India. The weather-worn stones and crumbling mortar seem to +feed the trees to gluttony. First some bird-drops the seeds of the +banian fig into crevices of the ramparts, and its insidious roots push +their way and grow and grow into great tortuous snakes, embracing the +massive blocks of basalt, heaving them up and holding them up, so that +they cannot fall. Then prickly shrubs and thorny trees follow, fighting +for every inch of ground, but quite unable to eject the gently +persistent custard-apple, descended doubtless from seeds which the +garrison dropped as they ate the luscious fruit, on account of which the +Portuguese introduced the tree from South America. I had penetrated +into that fort and had seen something of the snakes and birds of night, +but not the ghosts and demons which I was assured made it their +habitation by day. +</p> +<p> +On a level place a little below the fort stood two monuments, telling of +the days when the Honourable East India Company maintained a "Resident" +at this place. Here he lived in proud solitude, upholding the British +flag. But his wife and the little one on whose face he had not yet +looked were on their way from Bombay in a native "pattimar" to join him, +and as he stood gazing over the sea at the red setting sun one 5th of +October, he thought of the glad to-morrow and the end of his dreary +loneliness. It fell to him to put up one of these monuments, with a +sorrowful inscription to all that was left to him on the following +morning, the "memory" of a beloved wife and an infant thirty-one days +old, drowned in crossing the bar on October 6, 1853. +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>We have strewed our best to the weeds unrest,</p> + <p>To the shark and the sheering gull.</p> + <p>If blood be the price of admiralty,</p> + <p>Lord God, we ha' paid in full.</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +I carried my gun and rifle with me in my yacht. They served to keep up +my character as a sportsman, and did not often require to be cleaned. So +the morning calm of my mind was lashed into an unwonted tempest of +excitement when my jolly skipper, Sheikh Abdul Rehman, came in and told +me briefly that a "bag" (which word does not rhyme with rag, but must +be pronounced like barg without the <i>r</i> and signifies a tiger or +panther) had killed a cow in the village the night before last. +</p> +<p> +When he added that the villagers had set a spring gun for it last +evening and it had returned to the "kill" and been badly wounded, my +excitement was turned into wrath. I had been at anchor here all +yesterday. The Indian ryot everywhere turns instinctively to the <i>sahib</i> +as his protector against all wild beasts. What did these men mean by +keeping their own counsel and setting an infernal machine for their +enemy? Abdul Rehman explained, and the explanation was simple and +sufficient. My fat predecessor in the appointment that I held had no +relish for sport and kept no guns, so the simple villagers, when they +saw my boat with its familiar flag, looked for no help from that +quarter. However, I might still win renown off that wounded "bag," if it +was not a myth; but, to tell the truth, I was sceptical. The tiger and +the panther are not nomads on rocky plains, like the antelope. I landed, +notwithstanding, promptly and visited the scene. Sure enough, there was +a young heifer lying on its side, with the unmistakable deep pits where +the jaws of the panther had gripped its throat, and a gory cavity where +it had selected a gigot for its dinner. +</p> +<p> +Round the corpse the villagers had arranged a circular fence of thorns, +with one opening, across which they had stretched a cord, attached at +the other end to the trigger of an old shooting iron of some sort, +charged with slugs and looking hard at the opening. The gun had gone off +during the night, and the ground was soaked with blood. A few yards off +there was another great swamp of blood. The beast had staggered away and +lain down for a while, faint and sick. Then it had got up and crawled +home, still dripping with blood, by which we tracked it for a good +distance, but the trace grew gradually fainter and at last ceased +altogether. +</p> +<p> +"It has gone to the fort," said the men—"bags always go to the fort." I +pointed out that, if it had meant to go to the fort, it would have gone +towards the fort, instead of in another direction; but the argument did +not move them. "The fort is a jungle, and where else should a 'bag' take +refuge but in a jungle?" However, I was obstinate, and pursued the +original direction until we arrived at the brow of the hill, where it +sloped steeply down to the sea. The whole slope, for half a mile, was +covered with a dense scrub of Lantana bushes. This is another plant +introduced in some by-gone century from South America, and planted first +in gardens for its profuse clusters of red and pink verbena-like +blossoms (it is a near relation of the garden verbena), whence it has +spread like the rabbit in New Zealand, and become a nuisance. "There," I +cried, pointing at the scrub, "there, without doubt, your wounded 'bag' +is lying." +</p> +<p> +Some of the men, unbelieving still, were amusing themselves by rolling +large stones down the slope, when suddenly there was a sound of +scrambling, and across an opening in the scrub, in sight of us all, a +huge hyaena scurried away "on three legs." I sent a man post-haste for +my rifle, which I had not brought with me, never expecting to require it +until a regular campaign could be arranged. As soon as it arrived, we +formed in line and advanced, throwing stones in all directions. +</p> +<p> +Make no offering of admiration at the shrine of our hardihood, for we +were in no peril. Among carnivorous beasts there is not a more +contemptible poltroon than the hyaena, even when wounded. A friend of +mine once tied up a billy goat as a bait for a panther and sat up over +it in a tree. In the middle of the night a hyaena nosed it from afar, +and came sneaking up in the rear, for hyaenas love the flesh of goats +next to that of dogs. But the goat saw it, and, turning about bravely, +presented his horned front. This the hyaena could not find stomach to +face. For two hours he manoeuvred to take the goat in rear, but it +turned as he circled, and stood up to him stoutly till the dawn came, +and my friend cut short its disreputable career with a bullet. +</p> +<p> +To return to my story, we had not gone far when, on a lower level, not +many yards from me, I was suddenly confronted by that repulsive, +ghoulish physiognomy which can never be forgotten when once seen, the +smoky-black snout, broad forehead and great upstanding ears. Instantly +the beast wheeled and scrambled over a bank, receiving a hasty rear +shot which, as I afterwards found, left it but one limb to go with, for +the bullet passed clean through a hindleg and lodged in a foreleg. It +went on, however, and some time passed before I descried it far off +dragging itself painfully across an open space. A careful shot finished +it, and it died under a thick bush, where we found it and dragged it +out. It proved to be a large male, measuring 4 feet 7 inches, from which +something over a foot must be deducted for its shabby tail. +</p> +<p> +The natives all maintained still that their cow had been killed by a +panther, saying that the hyaena had come on the second night, after +their manner, to fill its base belly with the leavings. And there was +some circumstantial evidence in favour of this view. In the first place, +I never heard of a hyaena having the audacity to attack a cow; in the +second, the tooth-marks on the cow showed that it had been executed +according to the tradition of all the great cats—by seizing its throat +and breaking its neck; and in the third, a hyaena, sitting down to such +a meal, would certainly have begun with calf's head and crunched up +every bone of the skull before thinking of sirloin or rumpsteak. But the +absurdity of a panther being found in such a region outweighed all this +and I scoffed. +</p> +<p> +I was yet to learn a lesson in humility out of this adventure. Two years +later I sailed over the bar and dropped anchor at the same spot. I was +met with the intelligence that on the previous evening two panthers had +been seen sitting on the brow of the hill and gazing at the beauties of +the fading sunset, as wild beasts are so fond of doing. A night or two +later a cow was attacked in a neighbouring field, and, staggering into +the village, fell down and died in a narrow alley between two houses. +The panther followed and prowled about all night, but the villagers, +hammering at their doors with sticks, scared it from its meal. +</p> +<p> +I at once had a nest put up in a small tree, and took my position in it +at sunset. The common people in India do not waste much money on lamp +oil, preferring to sleep during the hours appointed by Nature for the +purpose, so it was not long before all doors were securely barred and +quietness reigned. Then the mosquitoes awoke and came to inquire for me, +the little bats (how I blessed them!) wheeled about my head, the +night-jar called to his fellow, and the little owls sat on a branch +together and talked to each other about me. Hour after hour passed, and +it became too dark in that narrow alley to see a panther if it had come. +So I came down and got to my boat. The panther was engaged a mile away +dining on another cow! On further inquiry I learned that there was some +good forest a day's journey distant, and it was quite the fashion among +the panthers of that place to spend a weekend occasionally at a spot so +full of all delights as this dark, jungle-smothered fort. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_13"><!-- RULE4 13 --></a> +<h2> + XIV +</h2> + +<center> +THE PURBHOO +</center> +<p> +I do not believe that the Member of Parliament who moved the adjournment +of the House to consider the culpable carelessness of the Government of +India in allowing the Rajah of Muttighur to fall into the moat of his +own castle when he was drunk, could have told you what a Purbhoo is, not +though you had spelled it Prabhu, so that he could find it in his +<i>Gazetteer</i>. Of course he saw hundreds of them during that Christmas +which he spent in the East before he wrote his book; but then he took +them all for Brahmins. He never noticed that the curve of their turbans +was not the same, and the idol mark on their foreheads was quite +different, nor even that their shoes were not forked at the toes, but +ended in a sharp point curled upwards. And if he did not see these +things which were on the surface, what could he know of matters that lie +deeper? +</p> +<p> +Now the first and most important thing to be known respecting the +Purbhoo, the fundamental fact of him, is that he is not a Brahmin. If he +were a Brahmin, one essential piece of our administrative apparatus in +India would be wanting, and without it the whole machinery would +assuredly go out of order. Nor is it easy to see how we could replace +him. Not one of the other castes would serve even as a makeshift. They +are all too far removed from the Brahmin. But the Purbhoo is near him, +irritatingly near him, and he has proved in practice to be just the sort +of homoeopathic remedy we require, the counter-irritant, the outward +blister by wise application of which we can keep down the internal +inflammation. +</p> +<p> +In speaking of the Brahmin as an inflammation in the body politic I +disown all offensive and invidious implications. I am only using a +convenient simile. You may reverse it if you like and make the disease +stand for the Purbhoo, in which case the Brahmin will be the blister. +Which way fits the facts best will depend upon which caste chances at +the time to be nearest to the vitals of Government. +</p> +<p> +The case stands thus. Before the days of British rule the Brahmin was +the priest and man of letters, the "clerke" in short. The rajahs and +chiefs were much of the same mind as old Douglas: +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Thanks to Saint Bothan son of mine,</p> + <p>Save Gawain, ne'er could pen a line,</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +Gawain being a bishop. As a Mohammedan gentleman related to one of the +ruling Indian princes put the matter when speaking to me a few years +ago, "In those days none of us could write. Our pen was the sword. If +any writing had to be done the Brahmin was called in." And no doubt he +did excellent service, being diligent, astute, and withal pliant and +diplomatic. If to these qualities he added ambition, he might, and often +did, become a Cardinal Wolsey in the state. In Poona, for example, the +Brahmin Prime Minister gradually overshadowed the Mahratta king, and the +descendant of Shivajee was put on a back shelf as Rajah of Sattara, +while the Peishwa ruled at the capital. +</p> +<p> +Of course this carnal advancement was not gained without some sacrifice +of his spiritual character, and the "secular" Brahmin had to bow, <i>quoad +sacra</i>, to the penniless Bhut, or "regular" Brahmin, who, refusing to +contaminate his sanctity by doing any kind of work, ate of the temple, +or lived by royal bounty or private charity, and by the free breakfasts +without which a marriage, "thread ceremony" or funeral in a gentleman's +house could not be respectably celebrated. Idleness and sanctity are a +powerful combination, and it is written in the <i>shastras</i> that every day +in which a holy man does no work for his bread, but lives by begging, is +equal in the eyes of the gods to a day spent in fasting; so, though the +prospect of power and wealth might tempt a few restless and wayward +spirits, the great mass of the Brahmin caste clung to the sacred +calling. +</p> +<p> +All this time the Purbhoo was in the land, but insignificant. He had no +sacred calling. Tradition assigned him a hybrid origin. He could not +presume to be a warrior, because his mother was a <i>shoodra</i>, nor could +he condescend to be a farmer, for his father was a <i>kshutriya</i>. So the +gods had given him the pen, and he was a writer—not a secretary, but a +humble quill-driver. But when the Portuguese and then the British came +upon the scene, not ruling by word of mouth, like the native rajahs, but +inditing their orders and keeping records, the Purbhoo saw an open door +and went in. +</p> +<p> +Then the Brahmin woke up, for he saw that he was in evil case. The +spirit of the British <i>raj</i> was falling like a blight and a pestilence +upon the means by which he had lived, drying up the fountains of +religious revenue and slowly but surely blighting the luxuriance of that +pious liberality which always took the form of feeding holy men. He +found that he must work for his bread whether he liked it or not, and +the only implement of secular work that would not soil his priestly hand +was the pen. And this was already taken up by the Purbhoo, who carried +himself haughtily under the new <i>regime</i> and showed no mind to make way +for the holier man. Hence sprang those bitter enmities and jealousies +which have done so much to lighten the difficulties of our position. +</p> +<p> +The British Government has often been accused of acting on the maxim, +<i>Divide et impera</i>. It is a libel. We do not divide, for there is no +need. Division is already there. We have only to rejoice and rule. How +well and justly we rule all the world knows, but only the initiated know +how much we owe to the fact that the talents and energies which would +otherwise be employed in thwarting our just intentions and +phlebotomising the ryot are largely preoccupied with the more useful +work of thwarting and undermining each other. +</p> +<p> +What could a collector do single-handed against a host of clerks and +subordinate magistrates and petty officials of every grade, all armed +with the awfulness of a heaven-born sanctity, all hedged round with the +prestige of an ancient supremacy, endowed with a mole-like genius for +underground work which the Englishman never fathoms, and all leagued +together to suck to the uttermost the life blood of those inferior +castes which were created expressly for their advantage? +</p> +<p> +<i>He</i> is working in a foreign language, among customs and ways of thought +which it takes a lifetime to understand: <i>they</i> are using their mother +tongue and handling matters that they have known from childhood. <i>He</i> +cannot tell a lie and is ashamed to deceive: <i>they</i> are trained in a +thrifty policy which saves the truth for a last resort in case +everything else should fail. He would be helpless in their hands as a +sucking child. But he knows they will do for him what he cannot do for +himself. The Purbhoo will lie in wait for the Brahmin, and the Brahmin +will keep his lynx eye on the Purbhoo. And woe to the one who trips +first. So the collector arranges his men with judicious skill to the +fostering of each other's virtue, and the result is most gratifying. +The country blesses his administration, and his subordinates are equally +surprised and delighted at their own integrity. +</p> +<p> +I speak of a wise and able administrator. There are men in the Indian +Civil Service who are neither wise nor able, and some who are not +administrators at all, having most unhappily mistaken their vocation. +When such a one becomes collector of a district his <i>chitnis</i>, or chief +secretary, sees that that tide in the affairs of men has come which, +"taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," and his caste-fellows all +through the service are filled with unholy joy. But he does nothing rash +or hasty. Wilily and patiently he goes to work to make his own +foundation sure first of all. He studies his chief under all conditions, +discovers his little foibles and vanities and feeds them sedulously. He +masters codes, rules and regulations, standing orders, precedents and +past correspondence, till it is dangerous to contradict him and always +safe to trust him. In every difficulty he is at hand, clearing away +perplexity and refreshing the "swithering" mind with his precision and +assurance. He becomes indispensable. The collector reposes absolute +confidence in him and is proud to say so in his reports. +</p> +<p> +Then the <i>chitnis</i>, if he is a Brahmin, addresses himself to the task of +eliminating the Purbhoo from the service, or at least depriving him of +place and power. It is a delicate task, but the Brahmin's touch is +light. He never disparages a Purbhoo from that day; "damning with faint +praise" is safer and as effectual. He practises the charity which +covereth a multitude of faults, but he leaves a tag end of one peeping +out to attract curiosity, and if the collector asks questions, he is +candid and tells the truth, though with manifest reluctance. Then he +grapples with the gradation lists, which have fallen into confusion, and +puts them into such excellent order that the collector can see at a +glance every man's past services and present claims to promotion. And +from these lists it appears that clearly, whenever any vacancy has to be +filled, a Brahmin has the first claim. And so, as the shades of night +yield to the dawn of day, the Purbhoo by degrees fades away and +disappears, and the star of the Brahmin rises and shines everywhere with +still increasing splendour. +</p> +<p> +But the Purbhoo possesses his soul in patience, and keeps a note of +every slip that the Brahmin makes. For the next <i>chitnis</i> may be a +Purbhoo, and then the day of reckoning will come and old scores will be +paid off. The Brahmin knows that too, and the thought of it makes him +walk warily even in the day of his prosperity. Thus our administration +is saved from utter corruption. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_14"><!-- RULE4 14 --></a> +<h2> + XV +</h2> + +<center> +THE COCONUT TREE +</center> +<p> +Among the classic fairy-tales which passed like shooting stars across +those dark hours of our boyhood in which we wrestled with the grim +rudiments of Latin and Greek, and which abide in the memory after nearly +all that they helped to brighten has passed away, there was one which +related to a contest between Neptune and Minerva as to which should +confer the greatest benefit on the human race. Neptune first struck his +trident on the ground (or was it on the waves? "Eheu fugaces"—no, that +also is gone), and there sprang forth a noble steed, pawing the ground, +terrible in war and no less useful in peace. Then the watery god leaned +back and smiled as if he would say, "Now, beat that." But the Goddess of +Wisdom brought out of the earth a modest, dark tree bearing olives and, +in classic phrase, "took the cake," Oriental mythology is more luxuriant +and fantastic than that of the West, but I do not know if it has any +legend parallel to this. If it has, then I am sure the palm is awarded +to the deity who gave to the human race the tree that bears the coconut. +</p> +<p> +Passing a confectioner's shop, I saw a tempting packet labelled +"Cokernut Toffee." I bought a pennyworth and gave it to my little girl, +and +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p> "I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge."</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +How many boys and girls are there in this kingdom to whom the word +coconut connotes an ingredient which goes to the making of a very +toothsome sweetie? And how many confectioners and shop girls are there +whose idea is no broader? Again: +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge,</p> + <p>And merrie sang the Birde as she sat upon the spraye."</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +And I said, "Little Bird, what do you know of the coconut?" And it made +answer, "It is a cup full of food, rich and sweet, which kind hands hang +out for me in winter," How narrow may be the key-hole through which we +take our outlook on things human and divine, never doubting that we see +the whole! In our own British Empire, only a few thousand miles away, +sits a mild Hindu, almost unclad and wholly unlettered, to whom the tree +that bore the fruit that flavoured the toffee that my little girl is +enjoying seems to be one of the predominating tints of the whole +landscape of life. It puts a roof over his head, it lightens his +darkness, it helps to feed his body, it furnishes the wine that maketh +glad his heart and the oil that causeth his face to shine, and time +would fail me to tell of all the other things that it does for him. As a +type and symbol, it is always about him, spanning the sunshine and +shower of life with bows of hope. +</p> +<p> +The coconut tree is a palm, and has nothing to do with cocoa of the +breakfast table. That word is a perversion of "cacao," and came to us +from Mexico: the other is the Portuguese word "coco," which means a nut. +It is what Vasco da Gama called the thing when he first saw it, and the +word, with our English translation added, has stuck to it. The tree is, +I need scarcely say, a palm, one of many kinds that flourish in India. +But none of them can be ranked with it. The rough date palm makes dense +groves on sandy plains, but brings no fruit to perfection, pining for +something which only Arabia can supply; the strong but unprofitable +"brab," or fan palm, rises on rocky hills, the beautiful fish-tailed +palm in forests solitarily, while the "areca" rears its tall, smooth +stem and delicate head in gardens and supplies millions with a solace +more indispensable than tobacco or tea. But the coconut loves a sandy +soil and the salt breath of the sea and the company of its own kind. The +others grow erect as a mast, but the gentle coconuts lean on the wind +and mingle the waving of their sisterly arms, casting a grateful shade +on the humble folk who live under their blessing. +</p> +<p> +To the mariner sailing by India's coral strand that country presents the +aspect of an endless beach of shell sand, quite innocent of coral, on +which the surf breaks continually into dazzling white foam against a +dark background of pensive palms. He might naturally suppose that they +had grown up of themselves, like the screw-pines and aloes which +sometimes share the beach with them; but that would be a great mistake. +Everyone of them has been planted and carefully watered for years and +manured annually with fresh foliage of forest trees buried in a moat +round the root. And so it grew in stature, but not in girth, until its +head was sixty, seventy or even eighty feet above the ground, and a +hundred nuts of various sizes hung in bunches from long, shiny, green +arms, each as thick as a man's, which had thrust themselves out from +between the lower fronds. +</p> +<p> +There is no production of Nature that I know of less negotiable than a +coconut as the tree presents it. The man who first showed the way into +it deserved a place in mythology with Prometheus, Jason and other heroes +of the dawn. There is a crab, I know, which lives on coconuts, enjoying +the scientific name of <i>Birgus latro</i>, the Burglar; but it seems to be a +special invention, as big as a cat and armed with two fearful pairs of +pincers in front for rending the outside casings of the fruits, and a +more delicate tool on its hind-legs for picking out the meat. Other +animals have to do without it, as had man, I opine, in the stone and +copper ages. With the iron age came a chopper, called in Western India a +"koita," with which he can hack his way through most of the obstructions +of life. When, with this, he has slashed off the tough outer rind and +the inch-thick packing of agglutinated fibres, like metal wires, he has +only to crack the hard shell which contains the kernel. +</p> +<p> +How little we can conceive the spaces in his life that would be empty +without that firm pulp, at once nutritious, sweet and fragrant! Curry +cannot be made without it, the cook cannot advance three steps in its +absence, pattimars laden with it are sailing north, south, east and +west, a thousand creaky wooden mills are squeezing the limpid oil out of +it, a hundred thousand little earthen lamps filled with that oil are +making visible the smoky darkness of hut and temple, brightening the +wedding feast and illuminating the sad page over which the candidate for +university honours nods his shaven head. That oil fed lighthouses of the +first order and illuminated viceregal balls and durbars before paraffin +and kerosene inundated the earth. And it has other uses. For arresting +premature baldness and preventing the hair turning grey its virtues are +equalled by no other oil known to us, and there is a fortune awaiting +the hairdresser who can find means effectually to remove or suppress its +peculiar and penetrating odour. Joao Gomez, my faithful "boy," did not +object to the odour, and when he had been tempted to pass my comb +through his raven locks as he was dusting my dressing table, I always +knew it. +</p> +<p> +When the white kernel has been turned to account, the utilities of the +coconut are not exhausted. The shell, neatly bisected, makes a pair of +teacups, and either of these, fitted with a wooden handle, makes a handy +spoon. Laurenco de Gama demands one or two of these inexpensive spoons +to complete the furnishing of my kitchen. As for the obstinate casing +that wraps the coconut shell, it is an article of commerce. It must +first be soaked for some months in a pit on the slimy bank of the +backwater, until all the stuff that holds it together in a stiff and +obdurate mass has rotted away and set free those hard and smooth fibres +which nothing can rot. These, when thoroughly purged of the foul black +pollution in which they have sweltered so long, will go out to all +quarters of the world under the name of "coir" to make indestructible +door mats and other indispensable things. It will penetrate to every +corner of India in which a white man lives, to mat his verandahs and +stuff his mattresses. +</p> +<p> +And who shall recount a tithe of its other uses? Of course, the nude man +under the coconut tree knows nothing of all this. He does without a +mattress, and has no use for a door mat. But he cannot do without +cordage, and if you took from him his coconut fibre, life would almost +stop. Wherewith would he bind the rafters of his hut to the beams, or +tether the cow, or let down the bucket into the well? What would all the +boats do that traverse the backwater, or lie at anchor in the bay, or +line the sandy beach? From the cable of the great pattimar, now getting +under weigh for the Persian Gulf with a cargo of coconuts, to the +painter of the dugout, "hodee," every yard of cordage about them is made +of imperishable coir. +</p> +<p> +When the axe is at last laid to the old coconut tree, a beam will fall +to the earth sixty feet in length, hard as teak and already rounded and +smoothed. True, you cannot saw it into planks, but no one will complain +of that in a village which does not own a saw. It cleaves readily enough +and straightly, forming long troughs most useful for leading water from +the well to the plantation and for many other purposes. It can also be +chopped into lengths suitable for the ridge poles of the hut, or for +bridges to span the deep ditches which drain the rice fields or feed the +salt pans. When out in quest of snipe I have sometimes had to choose +between crossing by one of those bridges, innocent of even a handrail, +and wading through the black slough of despond which it spanned. +Choosing neither, I went home, but the "Kolee" and the "Agree" trip over +them like birds, balancing household chattels on their steady heads. +</p> +<p> +We must not think, however, of the trunk as, at the best, anything more +than a by-product of the coconut tree, whose head is more than its body. +Even while it lives its head is shorn once a year, for, as fresh fronds +push out and upward from the centre, those of the outer circle get old +and must be cut away. And when one of those feathery, fern-like fronds, +toying with the breeze, comes crashing to the ground, it is ten or +twelve feet long, and consists of a great backbone, as thick at the base +as a man's leg, with a close-set row of swords on either side, about a +yard in length. They are hard and tough, but supple yet and of a shiny +green colour; but they will turn to brown as they wither. +</p> +<p> +Now observe that this gigantic, unmanageable-looking leaf, like +everything else about the coconut tree, is almost a ready-made article, +demanding no machinery to turn it to account, except the "koita" which +hangs ever ready from the nude man's girdle. With it he will cleave the +backbone lengthwise, and then, taking each half separately, he will +simply twist backwards every second sword and plait them all into a mat +two feet wide, eight or ten feet long, and firmly bounded and held +together on one side by the unbreakable backbone. This is a "jaolee," +lighter than slates, or tiles, and more handy than any form of thatch. +You have just to arrange your "jaolees" neatly on your bamboo frame, +each overlapping the one below it, then tie them securely in their +places with coir rope and your roof is made for a year. +</p> +<p> +There is yet another benevolence of the coconut tree which I have left +to the last, and the simple folk of whom I am trying to write with +fellow feeling would certainly have named it first. I ought to refer to +it as a curse: they, without qualm or question, call it a blessing. Let +me try to describe it dispassionately. If you wander in any palm grove +in Western India, looking upward, it will soon strike you that a large +number of the trees do not seem to bear coconuts at all, but black +earthen pots. If your visit should chance to be made early in the +morning, or late in the afternoon, the mystery will soon be revealed. +You will see a dusky, sinewy figure, not of a monkey, but of a man, +ascending and descending those trees with marvellous celerity and ease, +grasping the trunks with his hands and fitting his naked feet into +slight notches cut in them. The distance between the notches is so great +that his knee goes up to his chin at each step, but he is as supple as +he is sinewy and feels no inconvenience. For he is a Bhundaree, or +Toddy-drawer, and his forefathers have been Bhundarees since the time, I +suppose, when Manu made his immortal laws. +</p> +<p> +His waistcloth is tightly girded about him, in his hand he carries a +broad billhook as bright and keen as a razor, and from his caudal region +depends a tail more strange than any borne by beast or reptile. It looks +like a large brown pot, constructed in the middle. It is, in fact, a +large gourd, or calabash, hanging by a hook from the climber's +waistband. When he has reached the top of a tree, he gets among the +branches and, sitting astride of one of them, proceeds to detach one of +the black pots from the stout fruit stem on which it is fastened, and +empty its contents into his tail. Then, taking his billhook, he +carefully pares the raw end of the stem, refastens the black pot in its +place and hurries down to make the ascent of another tree, and so on +until his tail is full of a foaming white liquor spotted with drowned +honey bees and filling the surrounding air with a rank odour of +fermentation. This liquor is "toddy." +</p> +<p> +If I were a Darwin I would not leave that word until I had traced the +agencies which wafted it over sea and land from the shores of Hindustan +to the Scottish coast, where it first took root and, quickly adapting +itself to a strange environment, developed into a new and vigorous +species, spread like the thistle and became a national institution. At +first it was only the Briton's way of mouthing a common native word, +"tadi" (pronounced ta-dee), which meant palm juice; but it became +current in its present shape as early as 1673, when the traveller Fryer +wrote of "the natives singing and roaring all night long, being drunk +with toddy, the wine of the cocoe." About a century later Burns sang, +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The lads and lasses, blythely bent,</p> + <p>To mind baith saul and body,</p> + <p>Sit round the table, weel content,</p> + <p>And steer about the toddy.</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +Between these I can find no vestigia, but imagination easily fills the +gap. I see a company of jovial Scots, met in Calcutta, or Surat, on St. +Andrew's Day. European wines and beer are expensive, whisky not +obtainable at all; but the skilful khansamah makes up a punch with toddy +spirit, hot water, sugar and limes, and they are "well content." After +many years I see the few of them who still survive foregathered again in +the old country, and one proposes to have a good brew of toddy for auld +lang syne. If real toddy spirit cannot be had, what of that? Whisky is +found to take very kindly to hot water and sugar and limes, and the old +folks at home and the neighbours and the minister himself pronounce a +most favourable verdict on "toddy." In short, it has come to stay. But +we must return to the liquor in the Bhundaree's gourd. It is the rich +sap which should have gone to the forming of coconuts, which is +intercepted by cutting off the point of the fruit stalk and tying on an +earthen pot. If the pot is clean, the juice, when it is taken down in +the morning, not fermented yet but just beginning to sparkle with minute +bubbles, not too sweet and not so oily as the milk of the coconut, is +nectar to a hot and thirsty soul. No summer drink have I drunk so +innocently restorative after a hot and toilsome march on a broiling May +morning. But the Bhundaree will not squander it so: he takes care not to +clean his pots, and when he takes them down in the morning the liquor is +already foaming like London stout. Not that he means to drink it +himself, for you must know that, by the rules of his caste, he is a +total abstainer, being a Bhundaree, whose function is to draw toddy, not +to drink it. This is one of those profound institutes by which the +wisdom of the ancients fenced the whole social system of this strange +land. +</p> +<p> +But, while the Bhundaree must refuse all intoxicating drinks himself, it +is his duty to exercise a large tolerance towards those who are not so +hindered. He is, in fact, a partner in the business of Babajee, Licensed +Vendor of Fresh Toddy, towards whose spacious, open-fronted shop, +thatched with "jaolees," he now carries his gourds. There the contents +will stand, in dirty vessels and a warm place, maturing their +exhilarating qualities until the evening, when the Tam o' Shanters and +Souter Johnnies of the village begin to assemble and squat in a ring in +the open space in front. They may be Kolees, or fishermen, and Agrees, +who make salt, and aboriginal Katkurrees from the jungle, with their +bows and arrows, most bibulous of all, but among them all there will be +no Bhundaree. Babajee sits apart, presiding and serving, beside a dirty +table, on which are many bottles and dirty tumblers of patterns which +were on our tables thirty years ago. The assembly begins solemnly, +discussing social problems and bartering village gossip, for the Hindu +is by nature staid. After a while, at the second bottle perhaps, +cheerfulness will supervene, then mirth and garrulity, ending, as the +night closes round, with wordy contention and a general brawl. But +nothing serious will happen, for toddy, though decidedly heady, is at +the worst a thin potation. A strong and very pure spirit is distilled +from it, which has its devotees, but the rustic, as a rule, prefers +quantity to quality. We are often told that the British Government +taught the people of India to drink, but the scene that I have tried to +describe is indigenous conviviality, much older than any European +connection with the country. +</p> +<p> +Is it any wonder that the coconut has become an emblem of fertility and +prosperity and all good luck? When a new house is building you will see +a high pole over the doorway, bearing coconuts at the top, with an +umbrella spread over them. Do not ask the owner the meaning of the sign, +for he does not know. He does not think about such matters, but he feels +about them and he knows that that is the right thing to do. Besides, he +might ask you why you nail a horseshoe over your door. The difference +between us and him is that we do such things in jest, no longer +believing in them. They are the husks of a dead faith with us. But the +Hindu's faith is very living still. So, when he breaks a coconut at the +launching of a pattimar, he is a gainer in hope, if nothing else; while +we squander our champagne and gain nothing. That nut follows him even to +the grave, or burning ground, with mystic significances which I cannot +explain. I have been told that, when a very holy man dies, who always +clothed himself in ashes and never profaned his hands with work, his +disciples sometimes break a coconut over his head. If the spirit can +escape from the body through the sutures of the skull instead of by any +of the other orifices, it is believed to find a more direct route to +heaven, so the purpose of this ceremony may be to facilitate its exit +that way. In that case the breaking of the nut is perhaps only an +accident, due to its not being so hard as the holy man's skull. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_15"><!-- RULE4 15 --></a> +<h2> + XVI +</h2> + +<center> +THE BETEL NUT +</center> +<p> +One half the world does not know how the other half lives. Noticing a +pot of areca nut toothpaste on a chemist's counter, I asked him what the +peculiar properties of the areca nut were—in short, what was it good +for. He replied that it was an astringent and acted beneficially on the +gums, but he had never heard that it was used for any other purpose than +the manufacture of an elegant dentifrice. I felt inclined to question +him about the camel in order to see whether he would tell me that it was +a tropical animal, chiefly noted for the fine quality of its hair, from +which artist's brushes were made. Here was a man whose special business +it is to know the properties and uses of all drugs and their action on +the human system, and he had not the faintest notion that there are +nearly 300 millions of His Majesty's subjects, and many millions more +beyond his empire, who could scarcely think of life as a thing to be +desired if they were obliged to go through it without the areca nut. For +the areca nut is the betel nut. +</p> +<p> +In the Canarese language and the kindred dialects of Malabar it is +called by a name which is rendered as <i>adike</i>, or <i>adika</i>, in scientific +books, but would stand more chance of being correctly pronounced by the +average Englishman if it were spelled <i>uddiky</i>. The coast districts of +Canara and Malabar being famed for their betel nuts, the trade name of +the article was taken from the languages current there, and was tortured +by the Portuguese into <i>areca</i>. Over the greater part of India the +natives use the Hindustanee name <i>supari</i>, but by Englishmen it is best +known as the betel nut, because it is always found in company with the +betel leaf, with which, however, it has no more connection than +strawberries have with cream. The one is the leaf of a kind of pepper +vine, and the other is the seed, or nut, of a palm. But nature and man +have combined to marry them to one another, and it is difficult to think +of them separately. +</p> +<p> +In life the betel vine climbs up the stem of the areca palm, and in +death the areca nut is rolled in a shroud of the betel leaf and the two +are munched together. Other things are often added to the morsel, such +as a clove, a cardamom, or a pinch of tobacco, and a small quantity of +fresh lime is indispensable. +</p> +<p> +What is the precise nature of the consolation derived from the chewing +of this mixture it is not easy to say. Outwardly it produces effects +which are visible enough, to wit, a most copious flow of saliva, which +is dyed deep red by the juice of the nut, so that a betel nut chewer +seems to go about spitting blood all the day. As every Hindu is a betel +nut chewer, those 943,903 superficial miles of country which make up our +Indian Empire must be bespattered to a degree which it dizzies the mind +to contemplate. This is one of the difficulties of Indian +administration. In large towns and centres of business it is found +necessary to fortify the public buildings in various ways. The Custom +House in Bombay has the wall painted with dark red ochre to a height of +three or four feet from the ground. +</p> +<p> +But these are the outward results. What is the inwardness of the thing? +In a word, why do the people chew betel nut? Surely not that they may +spit on our public buildings. That is a chance result, not sought for +and not shunned. There is, of course, some deeper reason. Early +travellers in India were much exercised about this and used to question +the people, from whom they got some curious explanations. One reports, +"They say they do it to comfort the heart, nor could live without it." +Another says, "It bites in the mouth, accords rheume, cooles the head, +strengthens the teeth and is all their phisicke." A Latin writer gets +quite eloquent. "<i>Ex ea mansione</i>"—by that chewing—he says, "mire +recreantur, et ad labores tolerandos et ad languores discutiendos." +</p> +<p> +But the remarkable thing is that the betel nut has these effects only on +the Hindu constitution. To a European the strong, astringent taste and +penetrating odour of the betel nut are alike insufferable, and there is +no instance on record, as far as I know, of an Englishman becoming a +betel nut chewer. But wherever Hindu blood circulates, not in India +only, but all through the islands of the Malay Archipelago, as far as +the Philippines, the betel nut is an indispensable ingredient of any +life that is worth living. Mohammedanism forbids spirits and Brahminism +condemns all things that intoxicate or stupefy, but the betel nut is +like the cup that cheers yet not inebriates. No religion speaks +disrespectfully of it. It flourishes, blessed by all, and takes its +place among the institutions of civilisation. Indeed it is the chief +cement of social intercourse in a country where all ordinary +conviviality between man and man is almost strangled by the quarantine +enforced against ceremonial defilement. Friend offers friend the betel +nut box just as Scotsmen offered the snuff-box in the hearty old days +that are passing away. And all visits of ceremony, durbars, receptions, +leave-takings, and public functions of the like kind are brought to an +august close by the distribution of <i>pan supari</i>. To go through this +rite without visible repugnance is part of the training of our young +Civil Servants. When the interview or ceremony has lasted as long as it +was intended to last, there enter, with due pomp, bearers of +heavy-scented garlands, woven of jasmine and marigold, and in form like +the muffs and boas that ladies wear in winter. These are put upon the +necks and wrists of the guests in order of rank. Silver vases and +sprinklers follow, containing rose-water and attar of roses. You may +ward off the former from your person by offering your handkerchief for +it, and you may present the back of your hand for the latter, of which +one drop will be applied to your skin with a tiny silver or golden +spoon. +</p> +<p> +Finally, when everybody is reeking with incongruous odours and trying +not to be sick, a silver tray appears with the daintiest little packets +of <i>pan supari</i>, each pinned with a clove, and every guest is expected +to transfer one to his mouth, for they have been prepared by a Brahmin +and cannot hurt the most delicate caste. To an Englishman, however, it +is now generally conceded to compromise by keeping the morsel in his +hand, as if waiting an opportunity to enjoy it more at his leisure. When +you get home your servant craves it of you and contrasts real rajah's +<i>pan supari</i> with the stuff which the poor man gets in the bazaar. +</p> +<p> +The chewing of betel nut requires more apparatus and makes greater +demands on a man's time and personal care than the smoking of tobacco or +any of the allied vices. To cut the nut neatly an instrument is used +like an enormous pair of nutcrackers with a sharp cutting edge. The lime +should be made from oyster shells and it must be freshly burned and +slaked. Exposure to the air soon spoils it, so a small, air-tight tin +box is required to keep it in. Lastly, the betel leaf must be fresh, +and in a hot climate green leaves do not keep their freshness without +special care. +</p> +<p> +But the necessity for attending to all these matters no doubt adds +greatly to the interest which a chewer of <i>pan supari</i> is able to find +in life. Moreover, his taste and wealth have scope for expression in the +elegance of his appointments, and by these you may generally judge of a +man's rank and means. A well-to-do Mahratta cartman will carry in his +waistband a sort of bijou hold-all of coloured cloth, which, when +unrolled, displays neat pockets of different forms for the leaves, +broken nuts, lime box, spices, etc.; but a native magistrate, who goes +about attended by a peon and need not carry his own things, will have a +box of polished brass, or even silver, divided into compartments. +</p> +<p> +One may easily infer that to meet such a universal want there must be a +correspondingly great industry, and the cultivation of the betel nut is +indeed a great industry, and a most beautiful one. Surely since Adam +first began to till the ground in the sweat of his face, his children +have found no tillage so Eden-like as this. India has produced no Virgil +to take the common charms of a farmer's life and put them into immortal +song, so we search her literature in vain to learn how her simple, +rustic people feel about these things, and in what we see of their life +there is little sign that they feel about them at all; but when the +Englishman, wandering, gun in hand, up a steaming valley among +forest-clad hills, suddenly finds the path lead him into a betel nut +garden, with no wire fence, or locked gate, or inhospitable notice +threatening prosecution to trespassers, he feels as if he had entered +some region of bliss where the earthly senses are too narrow for the +delights that press for entrance to the soul. +</p> +<p> +In the first place, the areca nut palm is almost, if not altogether, the +most graceful of all its graceful tribe. Unlike the coconut, it grows as +erect as a flagstaff, and the effect of this is increased by its extreme +slenderness, for though it may attain a height of fifty feet, its +diameter scarcely exceeds six inches. At the top of the stem there is a +sheath of polished green, from the top of which again there issues a +tuft of the most ethereal, feathery fronds, diverging and drooping with +matchless grace. Under these hang the clusters of reddish-brown nuts. +</p> +<p> +As the areca nut will not grow except in places that are at once moist +and warm, the gardens are generally situated in narrow valleys and dells +among hills, with little streams of limpid water rippling past them or +through them. The steaming heat of such situations can only be realised +by one who has traversed them at noon in the month of May in pursuit of +sport or natural history. But the palms grow so close together that +their fronds mingle into an almost unbroken roof, through which the sun +can scarcely peep, and every air that enters there has the heat charmed +out of it, and as it wanders among the broad, aromatic leaves of the +betel vines which wreathe the pillars of that fairy hall, it is +softened with balmy moisture, and laden with fragrance and scent to woo +your senses in perfect tune with the tinkling music of the water and the +enchanting beauty of the whole scene. +</p> +<p> +In a large hut among these shades, with bananas waving their banner +leaves over the smooth and well-swept yard in front, where the children +play, lives the family that cultivates the garden. They are a sect of +Brahmins, but very unbrahminical, unsophisticated, industrious, +temperate, kind and hospitable. Other Brahmins despise them and wish to +deny them the name, because they have soiled their priestly hands with +agriculture. But they return the contempt, and walk in the way of their +fathers, a way which leads them among the purest pleasures that this +life affords and keeps them from many of its more sordid temptations. +Perhaps the picture has its darker shades too. I have not seen them, and +why should I look for them? +</p> +<p> +The betel nut harvest is something of the nature of an acrobatic +performance, for the crop is not on the ground, but on poles forty or +fifty feet high. This is the manner in which it is gathered. The farmer, +attended by his wife, goes out, and slipping a loose loop of rope over +his feet to keep them together, so that when he gets the trunk of a tree +between them it may fit like a wedge, he clasps one of the trees with +his hands and goes up at a surprising rate. He carries with him a long +rope, and when he reaches the top, he fastens one end of it to the +tree, and throws the other to his wife, who goes to a distance and draws +it tight. Then the man breaks off a heavy bunch of ripe nuts, and +hitching it on the rope lets it go. It shoots down with such velocity +that it would knock his wife down did she not know how to dodge it +skilfully and break its force in a bend of the rope. +</p> +<p> +When all the bunches are on the ground, the man begins to sway his body +violently till the tender and supple palm is swinging like a pendulum +and almost striking the trees on either side. Watching his opportunity, +the man grasps one of these and transfers himself to it with the +nimbleness of a monkey. In this way he makes an aerial journey round the +garden and avoids the fatigue of climbing up and down every separate +tree. +</p> +<p> +The gathered betel nuts soon find their way to the warehouses of fat +Bunias at the coast ports, where they are peeled and prepared and sorted +and piled in great heaps according to quality, and finally shipped in +<i>pattimars</i> and <i>cotias</i> and coasting steamers, and so disseminated over +the length and breadth of the land to be the comforters of poor and +rich. +</p> +<p> +It only remains to say that the betel nut is not used in the East for +tooth-powder, though the natives believe that the practice of chewing it +saves them from toothache. When they use any dentifrice it is generally +charcoal, and their toothbrush is either the forefinger or a fibrous +stick chewed at the end till it becomes like a stiff paintbrush. But +whatever he may use for the purpose, the Hindu cleans his teeth every +morning, and that most thoroughly, before he will allow food to pass his +lips, and the whiteness and soundness of his teeth are an object of envy +to Englishmen. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_16"><!-- RULE4 16 --></a> +<h2> + XVII +</h2> + +<center> +A HINDU FESTIVAL +</center> +<p> +Poets may sing,</p> + + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p> "Let the ape and tiger die,"</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="cont">but they are not quite dead yet, only caged, and where is the man in +whose bosom there lurks no wish that he could open the door just once in +a way and let them have a frisk? In the East there is no hypocrisy about +the matter. The tiger's den is barred and locked, and the British +Government keeps the key, but the ape has an appointed day in the year +on which he shall have his outing. They call it the <i>Holi</i>, which is a +misnomer, for of all Hindu festivals this is the most unholy; but of +that anon. +</p> +<p> +I asked a Brahmin what this festival commemorated, and he said he did +not know. He knew how to observe it, which was the main thing. Of +course, there is an explanation of it in Hindu mythology, which the +Brahmin ought to have known, and very probably did know, but was ashamed +to tell. But it matters little, for we may be well assured that the +explanation was invented to sanctify the festival long after the +festival itself came into vogue, as has been the case with some of our +most Christian holidays. +</p> +<p> +The Holi comes round about the time of the vernal equinox, when victory +declares for day and warmth in its long struggle with night and cold. +Then Nature rises and shakes herself as Samson rose and shook himself +and snapped the seven new cords that bound him, as tow is snapped when +it smells the fire. Then "the wanton lapwing gets himself another +crest," and then also the young Hindu's fancy lightly turns to thoughts +of love; and so it came about quite naturally that, looking around, +among his plentiful gods, for a deity who might fitly be invited to +preside over his lusty rejoicings at this season, he pitched upon +Krishna. +</p> +<p> +For Krishna, when he was upon this earth, was an amorous youth, and his +goings on with certain milkmaids were such as would shock Mrs. Grundy at +the present day even in India, supposing he had been only a man. But he +was a god, therefore his doing a thing made it right, and, where he +presides, his worshippers may do as he did. Consequently, man, woman and +child of every caste and grade give themselves licence, during these +days of the Holi, to act and speak in a manner that would be scandalous +at any other time of the year. +</p> +<p> +Hindus of the better sort are beginning to be outwardly, and some of +them, I hope, inwardly, rather ashamed of this festival, and it is time +they were. Yet there is always something cheering in the sight of +untutored mirth and exuberant animal joy breaking out and triumphing +over the sadness of life and the monotony of lowly toil; and I confess +that I find a pleasing side to this festival of the Holi. I like it best +as I have seen it in a fishing village on the west coast of India. +</p> +<p> +At first sight you would not suspect the black and brawny Koli of much +gaiety, but there is deep down in him a spring of mirth and humour +which, "when wine and free companions kindle him," can break out into +the most boisterous hilarity and jocundity and even buffoonery, throwing +aside all trammels of convention and decorum. His women folk, too, +though they do not go out of their proper place in the social system, +assert themselves vigorously within it, and are gay and vivacious and +well aware of their personal attractions. So the Koli village looks +forward to the Holi and makes timely preparation for it. +</p> +<p> +The night before the <i>poornima</i>, or full moon, of the month Phalgoon +arrives, each trim fishing boat is stored with flowers and leafy +branches, all the flags that can be mustered and a drum; then the whole +village goes a-fishing. Next morning each housewife gets up early to +decorate her house and trick out herself and her children. For though +the Koli is the most naked of men, his whole workaday costume consisting +of one rag about equal in amplitude to half a good pocket-handkerchief, +his wife is the most dressy of women. She is always well-dressed even +on common days. The bareness of her limbs may perhaps shock our notions +of propriety at first, for, being a mud-wader of necessity, like the +stork and the heron, she girds her garments about her very tightly +indeed; but this only sets off her wonderfully erect and athletic +figure, while her well-set head looks all the nicer that it has no +covering except her own neatly-bound hair. She never draws her <i>saree</i> +coyly over her head, like other native women, when she meets a man. On +this day there is no change in the fashion of her costume (that never +changes), but she puts on her brightest dress, blue, or red, or lemon +yellow, with all her private jewellery, and decks her hair with a small +chaplet of bright flowers. +</p> +<p> +Her children are tricked out with more fancy. The little brown girl, who +yesterday had not one square inch of cloth on the whole of her tiny +person, comes out a <i>petite</i> miss in a crimson bodice and a white skirt, +with her shining black hair oiled and combed and plaited and decked with +flowers, and her neck and arms and feet twinkling with ornaments. Her +brother of six or seven looks as if he were going to a fancy-dress ball +in the character of His Highness the Holkar. His small head is set in a +great three-cornered Maratha turban, and his body, a stranger to the +feel of clothes, is masked in a resplendent purple jacket. The young men +of the village, such of them as are not gone a-fishing, have donned +clean white jackets. Beyond that they will not go, contemning +effeminacy. +</p> +<p> +About nine o'clock, when the sun is now well up, the distant sound of a +tom-tom is heard, and the first of the returning fleet of <i>muchwas</i> +appears at the mouth of the creek. A long line of red and white flags +extends from the top of the mainyard to the helm and streamers flutter +from the mastheads. A monster bouquet of marigolds is mounted on the +bowsprit, branches of trees are stuck about in all possible situations, +and three or four large fishes hang from the bow, trailing their tails +in the water. With the exception of the man at the helm, who sits +stolid, minding his business, and one youth who plays the tom-tom, the +crew are standing in a ring, gesticulating with their arms and legs, or +waving wands and branches of trees. Some have half of their faces +smeared with red paint. If a boat passes they greet it with a shout and +a sally of wit or ribaldry. The other <i>muchwas</i> follow close behind, +with every inch of white sail spread and all a-flutter with flags and +streamers: it would be difficult to imagine a prettier spectacle, and +the tom-toming and the happiness beaming on the faces of the crews are +almost infectious. One feels almost compelled to wave one's hat and cry, +"Hip, hip, hooray!" +</p> +<p> +The boats come to shore, and then there ought to be a tumbling out of +the silvery harvest and a gathering of women and a strife indescribable +of shrill tongues, and then a long procession of wives and daughters +trotting to market, each balancing a great, dripping basket on her +comely head, while the husbands and fathers go home to eat and sleep. +But there is none of that to-day. The silvery harvest may go to +destruction and the husbands and fathers can do without sleep for once. +The children are taken on board in all their finery, and friends join +and musicians with their instruments. Then all sails are spread again +and the boats start for a circuit round the harbour. The wind blows +fiercely from the north, and each buoyant <i>muchwa</i> scuds along at a +fearful pace, heeling over until the rippling water fingers the edge of +the gunwale as if it were just getting ready to leap over and take +possession. But the hilarious Koli balances himself on the sloping +thwarts and jumps and sings and claps his hands, while the pipes screech +and the drums rattle. Twice, or three times, does the whole fleet go out +over the bar and wheel and return, each boat racing to be first, with no +more sense of danger than a porpoise at play. +</p> +<p> +At last they have had enough. The sails are furled and the boats +beached, the big fishes are taken down from the bows, and the whole +crowd, with their trophies and garlands, dance their way to the village. +There it is better that we leave them. To-night great fires will be +lighted in the middle of the main road and capacious pots of toddy will +be at hand, and every merry Koli will get hilariously drunk and do and +say things which we had better not see and hear. And the children will +look on and try to imitate their elders. And women will find it best to +keep out of the way for the sake of their pretty dresses, if there were +no better reason. For pots of water dyed crimson with <i>goolal</i> powder +are ready, and everybody has licence to splash everybody when he gets a +chance. Any time during the next two or three days you may find your own +servants coming home dappled with red. +</p> +<p> +So the ape has his fling. And the tiger is lurking not far behind. In +each of those fires it is the proper thing to roast a cock, throwing him +in alive. If the fire is a great one, a general village fire, then it is +still greater fun to throw in a live goat. But the worst of these +ceremonies are happily going out of fashion. For the English law is +stern, and the <i>sahibs</i> have strange and quixotic notions about cruelty +to animals, and although they are far away on tour at this season and no +native officer would voluntarily interfere with an immemorial custom, +still the tiger walks in fear in these days and the Koli is often +content to roast a coconut as proxy for a cock or a goat. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_17"><!-- RULE4 17 --></a> +<h2> + XVIII +</h2> + +<center> +INDIAN POVERTY +</center> +<center> +THE STANDARD OF LIVING +</center> +<p> +When Mr. Keir Hardie was in India he satisfied himself that the standard +of living among the working classes in India has been deteriorating. +This is interesting psychologically, and one would like to know by what +means Mr. Keir Hardie attained to satisfaction on such a great and +important question. Doubtless he had the ungrudging assistance of Mr. +Chowdry. +</p> +<p> +The poverty of India has for a good many years been a handy weapon, like +the sailor's belaying pin, for everyone who wanted to "have at" our +administration of that country; and if "a lie which is half a truth is +ever the blackest of lies," then this one must be as black as Tartarus, +for it is indubitably more than half a truth. The common field-labourer +in India is about as poor as man can be. He is very nearly as poor as a +sparrow. His hut, built by himself, is scarcely more substantial or +permanent than the sparrow's nest, and his clothing compares very +unfavourably with the sparrow's feathers. The residue of his worldly +goods consists of a few cooking pots and, it must be admitted, a few +ornaments on his wife. +</p> +<p> +But a sparrow is usually well fed and quite happy. It has no property +simply because it wants none. If it stored honey like the busy bee, or +nuts like the thrifty squirrel, it would be a prey to constant anxiety +and stand in hourly danger of being plundered of its possessions, and +perhaps killed for the sake of them. Therefore to speak of a Hindu's +poverty as if it certainly implied want and unhappiness is mere +misrepresentation born of ignorance. In all ages there have been men so +enamoured of the possessionless life that they have abandoned their +worldly goods and formed brotherhoods pledged to lifelong poverty. The +majority of religious beggars in India belong to brotherhoods of this +kind, and are the sturdiest and best-fed men to be seen in the country, +especially in time of famine. +</p> +<p> +But the Hindu peasant is not a begging friar, and may be supposed to +have some share of the love of money which is common to humanity; so it +is worth while to inquire why he is normally so very poor. There are two +reasons, both of which are so obvious and have so often been pointed out +by those who have known him best, that there is little excuse for +overlooking them. The first of them is thus stated in Tennant's <i>Indian +Recreations</i>, written in 1797, before British rule had affected the +people of India much in one direction or another. "Industry can hardly +be ranked among their virtues. Among all classes it is necessity of +subsistence and not choice that urges to labour; a native will not earn +six rupees a month by working a few hours more, if he can live upon +three; and if he has three he will not work at all," Such was the Hindu +a century ago in the eyes of an observant and judicious man, studying +him with all the sympathetic interest of novelty, and such he is now. +</p> +<p> +The other reason for the chronic poverty of the Indian peasant is that, +if he had money beyond his immediate necessity, he could not keep it. It +is the despair of the Government of India and of every English official +who endeavours to improve his condition that he cannot keep his land, or +his cattle, or anything else on which his permanent welfare depends. The +following extract from <i>The Reminiscences of an Indian Police Official</i> +gives a lively picture of the effect of unaccustomed wealth, not on +peasants, but on farmers owning land and cattle and used to something +like comfort. +</p> +<p> +"Yellapa, like all cotton growers in that part of the Western +Presidency, profited enormously by the high price of the staple during +the American war. Silver was poured into the country (literally) in +<i>crores</i> (millions sterling), and cultivators who previously had as much +as they could do to live, suddenly found themselves possessed of sums +their imagination had never dreamt of. What to do with their wealth, how +to spend their cash was their problem. Having laden their women and +children with ornaments, and decked them out in expensive <i>sarees</i>, they +launched into the wildest extravagance in the matter of carts and +trotting bullocks, going even as far as silver-plated yokes and harness +studded with silver mountings. Even silver tyres to the wheels became +the fashion. Twelve and fifteen rupees were eagerly paid for a pair of +trotting bullocks. Trotting matches for large stakes were common; and +the whole rural population appeared with expensive red silk umbrellas, +which an enterprising English firm imported as likely to gratify the +general taste for display. Many took to drink, not country liquors such +as had satisfied them previously, but British brandy, rum, gin, and even +champagne." +</p> +<p> +A few pages further on the author tells us of the ruin by debt and +drunkenness of the families which had indulged in these extravagances. +The fact is that to keep for to-morrow what is in the hand to-day +demands imagination, purpose and self-discipline, which the Hindu +working man has not. He is the product of centuries, during which his +rulers made the life of to-morrow too uncertain, while his climate made +the life of to-day too easy. No outward applications will alone cure his +poverty, because it is a symptom of an inward disease. +</p> +<p> +When a healthier state of mind shall awaken an appetite for comforts and +conveniences, and create necessities unknown to his fathers, then +degrading poverty will no longer be possible as the common lot. And it +was to be hoped that the British rule would in time have this happy +effect. Tennant evidently thought that it had begun to do so even in his +day. "The existence," he says, "of a regular British Government is but a +recent circumstance; yet in the course of a few years complete security +has been afforded to all of its dependants; many new manufactures have +been established, many more have been extended to answer the demands of +a larger exportation. We have therefore conferred upon our Asiatic +subjects an increase of security, of industry and of produce, and of +consequent greater means of enjoyment." +</p> +<p> +It is therefore a very grave charge that Mr. Keir Hardie brings against +the British Administration when he says, a century after these words +were written, that the standard of living among the Hindu peasantry has +deteriorated. Happily there does not appear to have been a close +relation between facts and Mr. Keir Hardie's conclusions during his +Indian tour, so we may continue to put our confidence in the many +hopeful indications that exist of a distinct improvement in the ideal of +life which has so long prevailed among our poor Indian fellow-subjects. +The rise in the wages of both skilled and unskilled labour during even +the last thirty years, especially in and near important towns, has been +most remarkable. +</p> +<p> +It is more to the point to know what the labourer is able to do and +actually does with his wages, and here the returns of trade and the +reports of the railway companies, post office and savings bank have +striking evidence to offer. They are published annually, and anyone, +even Mr. Keir Hardie, may consult them who likes his facts in +statistical form. For those who live in India there are abundant +evidences with more colour in them. Some thirty years ago, or more, +there was a steamship company in Bombay owning two small steamers which +carried passengers across the harbour. By degrees it extended its +operations and increased its fleet until it had a daily service of fast +steamers, with accommodation for nearly a thousand third-class +passengers, which went down the coast as far as Goa, calling at every +petty port on the way. The head of the firm retired some years ago, +having made his pile. Seldom has a more profitable enterprise been +started in Bombay. And whence did the profits come? From the pockets of +Hindu peasants. The Mahrattas of the Ratnagiri District supply most of +the "labour" required in Bombay, and for these the company spread its +nets. And by their incessant coming and going it amassed its wealth. +</p> +<p> +Heads of mercantile firms and Government offices, and all who have to +deal with the Mahratta "puttiwala," viewed its success without surprise. +Though always grumbling at his wages, he never appears to be without the +means and the will to travel. A marriage, a religious ceremony in his +family, or the death of some relative, requires his immediate presence +in his village, and he asks for leave. If he cannot get it otherwise, he +offers to forfeit his pay for the period. If it is still refused, he +resigns his situation and goes. This does not indicate pinching poverty; +there must be some margin between such men and starvation. And a saunter +through their villages will amply confirm such a surmise. +</p> +<p> +It is no uncommon thing in these coast villages to see that foreign +luxury, a chair, perhaps even an easy-chair, in the verandah of a common +Bhundaree (toddy-drawer). The rapidly growing use of chairs, glass +tumblers, enamelled ironware, soda-water and lemonade, patent medicines, +and even cheap watches, declares plainly that the young Hindu of the +present day does not live as his fathers did. Men go better dressed, and +their children are clothed at an earlier age. The advertisements in +vernacular languages that one meets with, circulated and posted up in +all sorts of places, tell the same tale convincingly; for the advertiser +knows his business, and will not angle where no fish rise. +</p> +<p> +Nor are large towns like Bombay the only places where the Hindu peasant +widens his horizon and acquires new tastes. In the Fiji Islands there +are about 22,000 natives of India who went out as indentured coolies +with the option of returning at the end of five years at their own +expense, or after ten years at that of Government. When these men come +home, they bring with them new tastes and new ideas, as well as the +habit of saving money and thousands of rupees saved during their short +exile. In Mauritius and South Africa the Hindu working man is learning +the same lessons. When he gets back to the sleepy life of his native +village, he is not likely to settle down contentedly at the level from +which he started. +</p> +<p> +On every hand, in short, forces are at work stirring discontent in the +breasts of the younger generation with the existence which was the +heritage of their fathers. These forces operate from the outside, and +the mass is large and very inert: it would be rash to say that in the +heart of it there are not still millions who regard a monotonous +struggle for a bare existence as their portion from Providence. But when +a man who has travelled in India for half a cold season tells us that +the standard of living in India has deteriorated, we are tempted to +quote from Sir Ali Baba: "What is it that these travelling people put on +paper? Let me put it in the form of a conundrum. Q. What is it that the +travelling M.P. treasures up and the Anglo-Indian hastens to throw away? +A. Erroneous hazy, distorted impressions." "One of the most serious +duties attending a residence in India is the correcting of those +misapprehensions which your travelling M.P. sacrifices his bath to +hustle upon paper." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_18"><!-- RULE4 18 --></a> +<h2> + XIX +</h2> + +<center> +BORROWED INDIAN WORDS +</center> +<p> +Of the results of the Roman supremacy in Britain none have been so +permanent as their influence on our language. No doubt this was less due +to any direct effect that their residence among the Britons had at the +time on vernacular speech than to the fact that, for many centuries +after their departure, Latin was the language, throughout Europe, of +literature and scholarship. Our supremacy in India is acting on the +languages of that country in both ways, and though it has scarcely +lasted half as long yet as the Roman rule in Britain, English already +bids fair to become one day the common tongue of the Hindus. But there +is also a current flowing the other way, comparatively insignificant, +but curious and interesting. +</p> +<p> +Few persons in England are aware how often they use words of Indian +origin in common speech. In attempting to give a list of these I will +exclude the trade names of articles of Indian produce or manufacture, +which have no literary interest, and also words which indicate objects, +ideas or customs that are not English, and therefore have no English +equivalents, such as "tom-tom," "sepoy" and "suttee," I will also omit +Indian words, such as "bundobust," and "griffin," which are used by +writers like Thackeray in the same way in which French terms are +commonly introduced into English composition. +</p> +<p> +Of course, it is not always possible to draw a hard and fast line. There +are words which first came into England as the trade names of Indian +products, but have extended their significance, or entirely changed it, +and taken a permanent place in the English language. Pepper still means +what it originally meant, but it has also become a verb. Another example +is Shawl, a word which has lost all trace of its Oriental origin. It is +a pure Hindustani word, pronounced "Shal," and indicating an article +thus described in the seventeenth century by Thevenot, as quoted in +Hobson-Jobson:—"Une Chal, qui est une maniere de toilette d'une laine +très fine qui se fait a Cachmir." With the article to England came the +name, but soon spread itself over all fabrics worn in the same fashion, +except the Scotch plaid, which held its own. +</p> +<p> +Somewhat similar is Calico, originally a fine cotton cloth imported from +Calicut. This place is called Calicot by the natives, and may have +dropped the final T through the influence of French dressmakers. Chintz +is another example, being the Hindustani word "cheent," which means a +spotted cotton cloth. In trade fabrics are always described in the +plural, and the Z in Chintz is no doubt a perversion, through +misunderstanding, of the terminal S. Lac is another Indian word which +has retained its own meaning, but it has gone beyond it and given rise +to a verb "to lacquer." +</p> +<p> +With these perhaps should be mentioned Pyjamas and Shampoo, both of +which have undergone strange perversions. Pyjama is an Indian name for +loose drawers or trousers tied with a cord round the waist, such as +Mussulmans of both sexes wear. In India the Pyjama was long ago adopted, +with a loose coat to match, as a more decent and comfortable costume +than the British nightshirt, and when Anglo-Indians retired they brought +the fashion home with them, English tailors called the whole costume a +"Pyjama suit," but the second word was soon dropped and the first +improved into the plural number. +</p> +<p> +"Shampoo" comes from a verb "champna," to press or squeeze, and the +imperative, "champo," as often happens, was the form in which it became +English. Forbes, in his <i>Oriental Memoirs</i>, writes of "the effects of +opium, champoing and other luxuries indulged in by Oriental +sensualists." When the medical profession in England began to patronise +the practice, it assumed a more dignified name, "massage," and the old +word was relegated to the hairdressers, who appropriated it to the +washing of the head, an operation with which the word has no proper +relation at all. +</p> +<p> +There are two words of doubtful derivation, which may be mentioned in +this connection. Cot, in the sense of a light bed, or cradle, is not +much used in England, but is given in Webster's and other dictionaries, +with the same Saxon derivation, as the "cot beside the hill" which the +poet Rogers sighed for. If this is correct, then it is at least curious +that the word should have almost gone out of use in England and revived +in India from a distinct root. There it is the term in every-day use for +any rough bedstead, such as the natives sleep on and call a khat. The +average Englishman cannot aspirate a K, and never pronounces the Indian +A aright unless it is followed by an R, so khat becomes "cot" by a +process of which there are many illustrations. +</p> +<p> +The other doubtful word mentioned above is Teapoy. It is defined in the +dictionaries as an ornamental table, with a folding top, containing +caddies for holding tea, but in India, where it is in much more general +use than it is in England, it signifies simply a light tripod table and +almost certainly comes from "teenpai" (three-foot), corresponding to +another common word, "charpai" (four-foot), which means a native +bedstead. The fact that it is sometimes spelled Tepoy confirms this, but +the other spelling is commoner, and appears to have led to its getting a +special meaning connected with tea among furniture sellers. +</p> +<p> +Cheroot, Bangle, Curry and Kidgeree are examples of words which have +come to us with the things which they signify, and retain their meaning +though the thing itself may have undergone some change. Curry as made in +England is sometimes not recognisable by a new arrival from India, and +Kidgeree is applied to a preparation of rice and fish, whereas it means +properly a dish of rice, split peas and butter, or "ghee." Fish may be +eaten with it, but is not an ingredient of it. Bazaar may be classed +with these words, and also Polo, which is merely the name for a polo +ball in the language of one of the Himalayan tribes from whom we learned +the game. It is said to have been played in England for the first time +at Aldershot in 1871. +</p> +<p> +More interest attaches to Gymkhana, for neither the word nor the thing +which it signifies is Indian, though both originated in India, and the +derivation of the word is unknown, though it is scarcely fifty years +old. Several hybrid derivations have been suggested, none of them +probable, and I lean to the suggestion that the starting-point of the +word may have been "jumkhana", a term which, though it is not in +Forbes's <i>Hindustani Dictionary,</i> I have heard a native apply to a large +cotton carpet, such as native acrobats, or wrestlers, might spread when +about to give a performance. Our use of the words Arena, Stage, Boards, +Footlights, etc., shows how easily a carpet might give name to a place +of meeting for athletic exercises. +</p> +<p> +There is another class of words which have come into England through +returned Anglo-Indians and spread by their own merit. One of these is +Loot. The dictionary says that it means "to plunder," but it holds more +than that or any equivalent English word. Perhaps it has scarcely risen +above the level of slang yet, but the phrase "to run amuck" is +classical, having been used by both Pope and Dryden. The pedantic +attempt made by some writers to change the common way of writing it +because the original Malay term is a single word, "amok," comes too late +in view of Dryden's line, +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p> "And runs an Indian muck at all he meets."</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +Cheese, in the sense of a thing, or rather of "the very thing," must be +ranked as slang too, though very common. The slang dictionaries give +fanciful derivations from Anglo-Saxon roots, or suggest that it is a +perversion of "chose"; but it is a common Hindustani word for a thing, +and when an Englishman in India finds some article which exactly suits +his purpose and exclaims, "Ah! that's the cheese," no one needs to ask +the derivation. If it did not come to us directly from India, then it +came through the gipsies, for it is one of the many Hindustani words +which occur in their language. Another word that came from India +indirectly is Caste, but it is of Portuguese origin. The early +Portuguese writers applied it ("casta") to the hereditary division of +Hindu society, and the English adopted it. It has now become +indispensable. We have no other word that could take its place in the +lines, +</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Her manners had not that repose</p> + <p>Which stamps the caste of Vere de Vere.</p> + </div> + </div> + +<p> +I must close with two familiar words which have been so long with us +that few who use them ever suspect that they came from the East—namely, +Punch and Toddy. The Rev. J. Ovington, who sailed to Bombay in 1689, in +the ship that carried the glad news of the coronation of William and +Mary, tells us that, in the East India Company's chief factory at Surat, +the common table was supplied with "plenty of generous Sherash (Shiraz) +wine and arak Punch," Arrack (properly "Urk"), sometimes abbreviated to +Rack, means any distilled spirit, or essence, but is commonly used to +distinguish country liquor from imported spirits. The Company's factors +drank it because European wines and beer were at that time very +expensive in India, and to reconcile it to their palates they made it +into a brew called Punch, from the Indian word "panch," meaning five, +because it contained five ingredients—viz. arrack, hot water, limes, +sugar and spice. This was the ordinary drink of poor Englishmen in India +for a longtime, and public "Punch-houses" existed in every settlement of +the East India Company. +</p> +<p> +Now, one of the principal substances from which country liquor is +distilled is palm juice, the native name for which, "tadee," has been +perverted into "toddy" (as in the case of "cot" above-mentioned), and +"toddy punch" meant the same thing as "arrack punch," Returning +Anglo-Indians brought the receipt for making this brew to England, and +lovers of Vanity Fair will remember how the whole course of that story +was changed by the bowl of "rack punch" which Joseph Sedley ordered at +Vauxhall, where "everybody had rack punch." How soon both the brew and +its Indian name took firm root and spread among us appears from the fact +that, at the Holy Fair described by Burns in the century before last, +the lads and lasses sit round a table and "steer about the toddy." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Concerning Animals and Other Matters +by E.H. 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Aitken, (AKA Edward Hamilton) + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Concerning Animals and Other Matters + +Author: E.H. Aitken, (AKA Edward Hamilton) + +Release Date: February 6, 2004 [EBook #10962] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONCERNING ANIMALS *** + + + + +Produced by Garrett Alley and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + +[Illustration: Portrait of "EHA."] + +CONCERNING ANIMALS AND OTHER MATTERS + +BY E.H. AITKEN ("EHA") + +AUTHOR OF "FIVE WINDOWS OF THE SOUL," "TRIBES ON MY FRONTIER," ETC. + +WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR BY + +SURGEON-GENERAL W.B. BANNERMAN I.M.S., C.S.I. + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY J A. SHEPHERD AND A PORTRAIT + +LONDON + + +1914 + + + + +CONTENTS + + "EHA" + + I FEET AND HANDS + II BILLS OF BIRDS + III TAILS + IV NOSES + V EARS + VI TOMMY + VII THE BARN OWL + VIII DOMESTIC ANIMALS + IX SNAKES + X THE INDIAN SNAKE-CHARMER + XI CURES FOR SNAKE-BITE + XII THE COBRA BUNGALOW + XIII THE PANTHER I DID NOT SHOOT + XIV THE PURBHOO + XV THE COCONUT TREE + XVI THE BETEL NUT + XVII A HINDU FESTIVAL + XVIII INDIAN POVERTY + XIX BORROWED INDIAN WORDS + + + + +Special thanks are due to the Editors and Proprietors of the _Strand +Magazine, Pall Mall Magazine_ and _Times of India_ for their courtesy in +permitting the reprinting of the articles in this book which originally +appeared in their columns. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +HALF-TONES + + "EHA" + + THE NOSE OF THE ELEPHANT BECOMING A HAND HAS REDEEMED ITS MIND + + GOOD FOR ANY ROUGH JOB + + HERE THE COMPETITION HAS BEEN VERY KEEN INDEED + + THE RAT IS A NEAR RELATION OF THE SQUIRREL ZOOLOGICALLY + BUT PERSONALLY HE IS A GUTTER-SNIPE, AND + YOU MAY KNOW THAT BY ONE LOOK AT THE TAIL, WHICH + HE DRAGS AFTER HIM LIKE A DIRTY ROPE + + A BLACKBIRD AND A STARLING--THE ONE LIFTS ITS SKIRTS, + WHILE THE OTHER WEARS A WALKING DRESS + + THE NOSTRILS OF THE APTERYX ARE AT THE TIP OF ITS BEAK + + THE LONG-NOSED MONKEY + + +LINE BLOCKS + + AN AUTHENTIC STANDARD FOOT + + THESE BEASTS ARE ALL CLODHOPPERS, AND THEIR FEET + ARE HOBNAILED BOOTS + + IT HAS TO DOUBLE THEM UNDER AND HOBBLE ABOUT LIKE + A CHINESE LADY + + NO DOUBT EACH BIRD SWEARS BY ITS OWN PATTERN + + ITS BILL DESERVES STUDY + + AS WONDERFUL AS THE PELICAN, BUT HOW OPPOSITE! + + THERE ARE SOME ECCENTRICS, SUCH AS JENNY WREN, WHICH + HAVE DESPISED THEIR TAILS + + AT THE SIGHT OF A RIVAL THE DOG HOLDS ITS TAIL UP STIFFLY + + A SHREW CAN DO IT, BUT NOT A MAN + + A BOLD ATTEMPT TO GROW IN THE CASE OF A TAPIR + + I HAVE SEEN HUMAN NOSES OF A PATTERN NOT UNLIKE THIS, + BUT THEY ARE NOT CONSIDERED ARISTOCRATIC + + WHO CAN CONSIDER THAT NOSE SERIOUSLY? + + OR PERHAPS WHEN IT WANTS TO LISTEN IT RAISES A FLIPPER TO ITS EAR + + "TEAR OUT THE HOUSE LIKE THE DOGS WUZ ATTER HIM" + + A GREAT CATHOLIC CONGRESS OF DISTINGUISHED EARS + + THE CURLS OF A MOTHER'S DARLING + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +"EHA" + +Edward Hamilton Aitken, the author of the following sketches, was well +known to the present generation of Anglo-Indians, by his pen-name of +Eha, as an accurate and amusing writer on natural history subjects. +Those who were privileged to know him intimately, as the writer of this +sketch did, knew him as a Christian gentleman of singular simplicity and +modesty and great charm of manner. He was always ready to help a +fellow-worker in science or philanthropy if it were possible for him to +do so. Thus, indeed, began the friendship between us. For when plague +first invaded India in 1896, the writer was one of those sent to Bombay +to work at the problem of its causation from the scientific side, +thereby becoming interested in the life history of rats, which were +shown to be intimately connected with the spread of this dire disease. +Having for years admired Eha's books on natural history--_The Tribes on +my Frontier, An Indian Naturalist's Foreign Policy_, and _The +Naturalist on the Prowl_, I ventured to write to him on the subject of +rats and their habits, and asked him whether he could not throw some +light on the problem of plague and its spread, from the naturalist's +point of view. + +In response to this appeal he wrote a most informing and characteristic +article for _The Times of India_ (July 19, 1899), which threw a flood of +light on the subject of the habits and characteristics of the Indian rat +as found in town and country. He was the first to show that _Mus +rattus_, the old English black rat, which is the common house rat of +India outside the large seaports, has become, through centuries of +contact with the Indian people, a domestic animal like the cat in +Britain. When one realises the fact that this same rat is responsible +for the spread of plague in India, and that every house is full of them, +the value of this naturalist's observation is plain. Thus began an +intimacy which lasted till Eha's death in 1909. + +The first time I met Mr. Aitken was at a meeting of the Free Church of +Scotland Literary Society in 1899, when he read a paper on the early +experiences, of the English in Bombay. The minute he entered the room I +recognised him from the caricatures of himself in the _Tribes_. The +long, thin, erect, bearded man was unmistakable, with a typically Scots +face lit up with the humorous twinkle one came to know so well. Many a +time in after-years has that look been seen as he discoursed, as only he +could, on the ways of man and beast, bird or insect, as one tramped +with him through the jungles on the hills around Bombay during week-ends +spent with him at Vehar or elsewhere. He was an ideal companion on such +occasions, always at his best when acting the part of _The Naturalist on +the Prowl._ + +Mr. Aitken was born at Satara in the Bombay Presidency on August 16, +1851. His father was the Rev. James Aitken, missionary of the Free +Church of Scotland. His mother was a sister of the Rev. Daniel Edward, +missionary to the Jews at Breslau for some fifty years. He was educated +by his father in India, and one can well realise the sort of education +he got from such parents from the many allusions to the Bible and its +old Testament characters that one constantly finds used with such effect +in his books. His farther education was obtained at Bombay and Poona. He +passed M.A. and B.A. of Bombay University first on the list, and won the +Homejee Cursetjee prize with a poem in 1880. From 1870 to 1876 he was +Latin Reader in the Deccan College at Poona, which accounts for the +extensive acquaintance with the Latin classics so charmingly manifest in +his writings. That he was well grounded in Greek is also certain, for +the writer, while living in a chummery with him in Bombay in 1902, saw +him constantly reading the Greek Testament in the mornings without the +aid of a dictionary. + +He entered the Customs and Salt Department of the Government of Bombay +in April 1876, and served in Kharaghoda (the Dustypore of the _Tribes_), +Uran, North Kanara and Goa Frontier, Ratnagiri, and Bombay itself. In +May, 1903, he was appointed Chief Collector of Customs and Salt Revenue +at Karachi, and in November, 1905, was made Superintendent in charge of +the District Gazetteer of Sind. He retired from the service in August +1906. + +He married in 1883 the daughter of the Rev. J. Chalmers Blake, and left +a family of two sons and three daughters. + +In 1902 he was deputed, on special duty, to investigate the prevalence +of malaria at the Customs stations along the frontier of Goa, and to +devise means for removing the Salt Peons at these posts, from the +neighbourhood of the anopheles mosquito, by that time recognised as the +cause of the deadly malaria, which made service on that frontier dreaded +by all. + +It was during this expedition that he discovered a new species of +anopheline mosquito, which after identification by Major James, I.M.S., +was named after him _Anopheles aitkeni_. During his long service there +are to be found in the Annual Reports of the Customs Department frequent +mention of Mr. Aitken's good work, but it is doubtful whether the +Government ever fully realised what an able literary man they had in +their service, wasting his talent in the Salt Department. On two +occasions only did congenial work come to him in the course of his +public duty--namely, when he was sent to study, from the naturalist's +point of view, the malarial conditions prevailing on the frontier of +Goa; and when during the last two years of his service he was put in +literary charge of _The Sind Gazetteer_. In this book one can see the +light and graceful literary touch of Eha frequently cropping up amidst +the dry bones of public health and commercial statistics, and the book +is enlivened by innumerable witty and philosophic touches appearing in +the most unlikely places, such as he alone could enliven a dull subject +with. Would that all Government gazetteers were similarly adorned! But +there are not many "Ehas" in Government employ in India. + +On completion of this work he retired to Edinburgh, where most of the +sketches contained in this volume were written. He was very happy with +his family in his home at Morningside, and was beginning to surround +himself with pets and flowers, as was his wont all his life, and to get +a good connection with the home newspapers and magazines, when, alas! +death stepped in, and he died after a short illness on April 25, 1909. + +He was interested in the home birds and beasts as he had been with those +in India, and the last time the writer met him he was taking home some +gold-fish for his aquarium. A few days before his death he had found his +way down to the Morningside cemetery, where he had been enjoying the +sunshine and flowers of Spring, and he remarked to his wife that he +would often go there in future to watch the birds building their nests. + +Before that time came, he was himself laid to rest in that very spot in +sure and certain hope of a blessed resurrection. + +The above imperfect sketch fails to give the charm and magnetic +attraction of the man, and for this one must go to his works, which for +those who knew him are very illuminating in this respect. In them one +catches a glimpse of his plan for keeping young and cheerful in "the +land of regrets," for one of his charms was his youthfulness and +interest in life. He refused to be depressed by his lonely life. "I am +only an exile," he remarks, "endeavouring to work a successful existence +in Dustypore, and not to let my environment shape me as a pudding takes +the shape of its mould, but to make it tributary to my own happiness." +He therefore urges his readers to cultivate a hobby. + +"It is strange," he says, "that Europeans in India know so little, see +so little, care so little, about all the intense life that surrounds +them. The boy who was the most ardent of bug-hunters, or the most +enthusiastic of bird-nesters in England, where one shilling will buy +nearly all that is known, or can be known, about birds or butterflies, +maintains in this country, aided by Messrs. B. &. S., an unequal strife +with the insupportableness of an _ennui_-smitten life. Why, if he would +stir up for one day the embers of the old flame, he could not quench it +again with such a prairie of fuel around him. I am not speaking of +Bombay people, with their clubs and gymkhanas and other devices for +oiling the wheels of existence, but of the dreary up-country exile, +whose life is a blank, a moral Sahara, a catechism of the Nihilist +creed. What such a one needs is a hobby. Every hobby is good--a sign of +good and an influence for good. Any hobby will draw out the mind, but +the one I plead for touches the soul too, keeps the milk of human +kindness from souring, puts a gentle poetry into the prosiest life. That +all my own finer feelings have not long since withered in this land of +separation from 'old familiar faces,' I attribute partly to a pair of +rabbits. All rabbits are idiotic things, but these come in and sit up +meekly and beg a crust of bread, and even a perennial fare of village +_moorgee_ cannot induce me to issue the order for their execution and +conversion into pie. But if such considerations cannot lead, the +struggle for existence should drive a man in this country to learn the +ways of his border tribes. For no one, I take it, who reflects for an +instant will deny that a small mosquito, with black rings upon a white +ground, or a sparrow that has finally made up its mind to rear a family +in your ceiling, exercises an influence on your personal happiness far +beyond the Czar of the Russias. It is not a question of scientific +frontiers--the enemy invades us on all, sides. We are plundered, +insulted, phlebotomised under our own vine and fig-tree. We might make +head against the foe if we laid to heart the lesson our national history +in India teaches--namely, that the way to fight uncivilised enemies is +to encourage them to cut one another's throats, and then step in and +inherit the spoil. But we murder our friends, exterminate our allies, +and then groan under the oppression of the enemy. I might illustrate +this by the case of the meek and long-suffering musk-rat, by spiders or +ants, but these must wait another day." + +Again he says, "The 'poor dumb animals' can give each other a bit of +their minds like their betters, and to me their fierce and tender little +passions, their loves and hates, their envies and jealousies, and their +small vanities beget a sense of fellow-feeling which makes their +presence society. The touch of Nature which makes the whole world kin is +infirmity. A man without a weakness is insupportable company, and so is +a man who does not feel the heat. There is a large grey ring-dove that +sits in the blazing sun all through the hottest hours of the day, and +says coo-coo, coo, coo-coo, coo until the melancholy sweet monotony of +that sound is as thoroughly mixed up in my brain with 110 deg. in the shade +as physic in my infantile memories with the peppermint lozenges which +used to 'put away the taste,' But as for these creatures, which confess +the heat and come into the house and gasp, I feel drawn to them. I +should like to offer them cooling drinks. Not that all my midday guests +are equally welcome: I could dispense, for instance, with the +grey-ringed bee which has just reconnoitred my ear for the third time, +and guesses it is a key-hole--she is away just now, but only, I fancy, +for clay to stop it up with. There are others also to which I would give +their _conge_ if they would take it. But good, bad, or indifferent they +give us their company whether we want it or not." + +Eha certainly found company in beasts all his life, and kept the charm +of youth about him in consequence to the end. If his lot were cast, as +it often was, in lonely places, he kept pets, and made friends besides +of many of the members of the tribes on his frontier; if in Bombay city +he consoled himself with his aquarium and the museum of the Bombay +Natural History Society. When the present writer chummed with him in a +flat on the Apollo Bunder in Bombay, he remembers well that aquarium and +the Sunday-morning expeditions to the malarious ravines at the back of +Malabar Hill to search for mosquito larvae to feed its inmates. For at +that time Mr. Aitken was investigating the capabilities for the +destruction of larvae, of a small surface-feeding fish with an +ivory-white spot on the top of its head, which he had found at Vehar in +the stream below the bund. It took him some time to identify these +particular fishes (_Haplochilus lineatus_), and in the meantime he +dubbed them "Scooties" from the lightning rapidity of their movements, +and in his own admirable manner made himself a sharer of their joys and +sorrows, their cares and interests. With these he stocked the ornamental +fountains of Bombay to keep them from becoming breeding-grounds for +mosquitoes, and they are now largely used throughout India for this very +purpose. It will be recognised, therefore, that Mr. Aitken studied +natural history not only for its own sake, but as a means of benefiting +the people of India, whom he had learned to love, as is so plainly shown +in _Behind the Bungalow_. + +He was an indefatigable worker in the museum of the Bombay Natural +History Society, which he helped to found, and many of his papers and +notes are preserved for us in the pages of its excellent _Journal_, of +which he was an original joint-editor. He was for long secretary of the +Insect Section, and then president. Before his retirement he was elected +one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society. + +Mr. Aitken was a deeply religious man, and was for some twenty years an +elder in the congregation of the United Free Church of Scotland in +Bombay. He was for some years Superintendent of the Sunday School in +connection with this congregation, and a member of the Committee of the +Bombay Scottish Orphanage and the Scottish High Schools. His former +minister says of him, "He was deeply interested in theology, and +remained wonderfully orthodox in spite of" (or, as the present writer +would prefer to say, _because of_) "his scientific knowledge. He always +thought that the evidence for the doctrine of evolution had been pressed +for more than it was worth, and he had many criticisms to make upon the +Higher Critics of the Bible. Many a discussion we had, in which, against +me, he took the conservative side." + +He lets one see very clearly into the workings of his mind in this +direction in what is perhaps the finest, although the least well known +of his books, _The Five Windows of the Soul_ (John Murray), in which he +discourses in his own inimitable way of the five senses, and how they +bring man and beast into contact with their surroundings. It is a book +on perceiving, and shows how according as this faculty is exercised it +makes each man such as he is. The following extract from the book shows +Mr. Aitken's style, and may perhaps induce some to go to the book itself +for more from the same source. He is speaking of the moral sense. "And +it is almost a truism to say that, if a man has any taste, it will show +itself in his dress and in his dwelling. No doubt, through indolence and +slovenly habits, a man may allow his surroundings to fall far below what +he is capable of approving; but every one who does so pays the penalty +in the gradual deterioration of his perceptions. + +"How many times more true is all this in the case of the moral sense? +When the heart is still young and tender, how spontaneously and sweetly +and urgently does every vision of goodness and nobleness in the conduct +of another awaken the impulse to go and do likewise! And if that impulse +is not obeyed, how certainly does the first approving perception of the +beauty of goodness become duller, until at last we may even come to hate +it where we find it, for its discordance with the 'motions of sins in +our members'! + +"But not less certainly will every earnest effort to bring the life into +unison with what we perceive to be right bring its own reward in a +clearer and more joyful perception of what is right, and a keener +sensitiveness to every discord in ourselves. How all such discord may be +removed, how the chords of the heart may be tuned and the life become +music,--these are questions of religion, which are quite beyond our +scope. But I take it that every religion which has prevailed among the +children of Adam is in itself an evidence that, however debased and +perverted the moral sense may have become, the painful consciousness +that his heart is 'like sweet bells jangled' still presses everywhere +and always on the spirit of man; and it is also a conscious or +unconscious admission that there is no blessedness for him until his +life shall march in step with the music of the 'Eternal Righteousness.'" + +Mr. Aitken's name will be kept green among Anglo-Indians by the +well-known series of books published by Messrs. Thacker & Co., of London +and Calcutta. They are _The Tribes on my Frontier, An Indian +Naturalist's Foreign Policy_, which was published in 1883, and of which +a seventh edition appeared in 1910. This book deals with the common +birds, beasts, and insects in and around an Indian bungalow, and it +should be put into the hands of every one whose lot is cast in India. It +will open their eyes to the beauty and interests of their surroundings +in a truly wonderful way, and may be read again and again with +increasing pleasure as one's experience of Indian life increases. + +This was followed in 1889 by _Behind the Bungalow_, which describes with +charming insight the strange manners and customs of our Indian domestic +servants. The witty and yet kindly way in which their excellencies and +defects are touched off is delightful, and many a harassed _mem-sahib_ +must bless Eha for showing her the humorous and human side of her life +surrounded as it is by those necessary but annoying inhabitants of the +Godowns behind the bungalow. A tenth edition of this book was published +in 1911. + +_The Naturalist on the Prowl_ was brought out in 1894, and a third +edition was published in 1905. It contains sketches on the same lines as +those in _The Tribes_, but deals more with the jungles, and not so much +with the immediate surroundings of the bungalow. The very smell of the +country is in these chapters, and will vividly recall memories to those +who know the country along the West Coast of India southward of Bombay. + +In 1900 was published _The Common Birds of Bombay_, which contains +descriptions of the ordinary birds one sees about the bungalow or in the +country. As is well said by the writer of the obituary notice in the +_Journal_ of the Bombay Natural History Society, Eha "had a special +genius for seizing the striking and characteristic points in the +appearance and behaviour of individual species and a happy knack of +translating them into print so as to render his descriptions +unmistakable. He looked upon all creatures in the proper way, as if each +had a soul and character of its own. He loved them all, and was +unwilling to hurt any of them." These characteristics are well shown in +this book, for one is able to recognise the birds easily from some +prominent feature described therein.[1] + +_The Five Windows of the Soul_, published by John Murray in 1898, is of +quite another character from the above, and was regarded by its author +with great affection as the best of his books. It is certainly a +wonderfully self-revealing book, and full of the most beautiful +thoughts. A second impression appeared in the following year, and a new +and cheaper edition has just been published. The portrait of Eha is +reproduced from one taken in 1902 in a flat on the Apollo Bunder, and +shows the man as he was in workaday life in Bombay. The humorous and +kindly look is, I think, well brought out, and will stir pleasant +memories in all who knew Mr. Aitken. + +W. B. B. + +MADRAS, _January_ 1914. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: The illustrations are his own work, but the blocks having +been produced in India, they do not do justice to the extreme delicacy +of workmanship and fine perception of detail which characterise the +originals, as all who have been privileged to see these will agree.] + + + + +CONCERNING ANIMALS + + + + +I + + +FEET AND HANDS + +It is evident that, in what is called the evolution of animal forms, the +foot came in suddenly when the backboned creatures began to live on the +dry land--that is, with the frogs. How it came in is a question which +still puzzles the phylogenists, who cannot find a sure pedigree for the +frog. There it is, anyhow, and the remarkable point about it is that the +foot of a frog is not a rudimentary thing, but an authentic standard +foot, like the yard measure kept in the Tower of London, of which all +other feet are copies or adaptations. This instrument, as part of the +original outfit given to the pioneers of the brainy, backboned, and +four-limbed races, when they were sent out to multiply and replenish the +earth, is surely worth considering well. It consists essentially of a +sole, or palm, made up of small bones and of _five_ separate digits, +each with several joints. + +[Illustration: AN AUTHENTIC STANDARD FOOT.] + +In the hind foot of a frog the toes are very long and webbed from point +to point. In this it differs a good deal from the toad, and there is +significance in the difference. The "heavy-gaited toad," satisfied with +sour ants, hard beetles, and such other fare as it can easily pick up, +and grown nasty in consequence, so that nothing seeks to eat it, has +hobbled through life, like a plethoric old gentleman, until the present +day, on its original feet. The more versatile and nimble-witted frog, +seeking better diet and greater security of life, went back to the +element in which it was bred, and, swimming much, became better fitted +for swimming. The soft elastic skin between the fingers or toes is just +the sort of tissue which responds most readily to inward impulses, and +we find that the very same change has come about in those birds and +beasts which live much in water. I know that this is not the accepted +theory of evolution, but I am waiting till it shall become so. We all +develop in the direction of our tendencies, and shall, I doubt not, be +wise enough some day to give animals leave to do the same. + +It seems strange that any creature, furnished with such tricky and +adaptable instruments to go about the world with, should tire of them +and wish to get rid of them, but so it happened at a very early stage. +It must have been a consequence, I think, of growing too fast. Mark +Twain remarked about a dachshund that it seemed to want another pair of +legs in the middle to prevent it sagging. Now, some lizards are so long +that they cannot keep from sagging, and their progress becomes a painful +wriggle. But if you must go by wriggling, then what is the use of legs +to knock against stems and stones? So some lizards have discarded two of +their legs and some all four. Zoologically they are not snakes, but +snakes are only a further advance in the same direction. That snakes did +not start fair without legs is clear, for the python has to this day two +tell-tale leg-bones buried in its flesh. + +When we pass from reptiles to birds, lo! an astounding thing has +happened. That there were flying reptiles in the fossil ages we know, +and there are flying beasts in our own. But the wings of these are +simple mechanical alterations, which the imagination of a child, or a +savage, could explain. + +The hands of a bat are hands still, and, though the fingers are hampered +by their awkward gloves, the thumbs are free. The giant fruit bats of +the tropics clamber about the trees quite acrobatically with their +thumbs and feet. + +That Apollyonic monster of the prime, the pterodactyl, did even better. +Stretching on each little finger a lateen sail that would have served to +waft a skiff across the Thames, it kept the rest of its hands for other +uses. But what bearing has all this on the case of birds? Here is a +whole sub-kingdom, as they call it, of the animal world which has +unreservedly and irrevocably bartered one pair of its limbs for a +flying-machine. The apparatus is made of feathers--a new invention, +unknown to amphibian or saurian, whence obtained nobody can say--and +these are grafted into the transformed frame of the old limbs. The +bargain was worth making, for the winged bird at once soared away in all +senses from the creeping things of earth, and became a more ethereal +being; "like a blown flame, it rests upon the air, subdues it, surpasses +it, outraces it; it is the air, conscious of itself, conquering itself, +ruling itself." But the price was heavy. The bird must get through life +with one pair of feet and its mouth. But this was all the bodily +furniture of Charles Francois Felu, who, without arms, became a famous +artist. + +A friend of mine, standing behind him in a _salon_ and watching him at +work, saw him lay down his brush and, raising his foot to his head, take +off his hat and scratch his crown with his great toe. My friend was +nearly hypnotised by the sight, yet it scarcely strikes us as a wonder +when a parrot, standing on one foot, takes its meals with the other. It +is a wonder, and stamps the parrot as a bird of talent. A mine of hidden +possibilities is in us all, but those who dig resolutely into it and +bring out treasure are few. + +And let us note that the art of standing began with birds. Frogs sit, +and, as far as I know, every reptile, be it lizard, crocodile, +alligator, or tortoise, lays its body on the ground when not actually +carrying it. And these have each four fat legs. Contrast the flamingo, +which, having only two, and those like willow wands, tucks up one of +them and sleeps poised high on the other, like a tulip on its stem. + +Note also that one toe has been altogether discarded by birds as +superfluous. The germ, or bud, must be there, for the Dorking fowl has +produced a fifth toe under some influence of the poultry-yard, but no +natural bird has more than four. Except in swifts, which never perch, +but cling to rocks and walls, one is turned backwards, and, by a cunning +contrivance, the act of bending the leg draws them all automatically +together. So a hen closes its toes at every step it takes, as if it +grasped something, and, of course, when it settles down on its roost, +they grasp that tight and hold it fast till morning. But to birds that +do not perch this mechanism is only an encumbrance, so many of them, +like the plovers, abolish the hind toe entirely, and the prince of all +two-legged runners, the ostrich, has got rid of one of the front toes +also, retaining only two. + +[Illustration: THESE BEASTS ARE ALL CLODHOPPERS, AND THEIR FEET ARE +HOBNAILED BOOTS.] + +To a man who thinks, it is very interesting to observe that beasts have +been led along gradually in the very same direction. All the common +beasts, such as cats, dogs, rats, stoats, and so on, have five ordinary +toes. On the hind feet there may be only four. But as soon as we come to +those that feed on grass and leaves, standing or walking all the while, +we find that the feet are shod with hoofs instead of being tipped with +claws. First the five toes, though clubbed together, have each a +separate hoof, as in the elephant; then the hippopotamus follows with +four toes, and the rhinoceros with practically three. These beasts are +all clodhoppers, and their feet are hobnailed boots. The more active +deer and all cattle keep only two toes for practical purposes, though +stumps of two more remain. Finally, the horse gathers all its foot into +one boot, and becomes the champion runner of the world. + +It is not without significance that this degeneracy of the feet goes +with a decline in the brain, whether as cause or effect I will not +pretend to know. These hoofed beasts have shallow natures and live +shallow lives. They eat what is spread by Nature before their noses, +have no homes, and do nothing but feed and fight with each other. The +elephant is a notable exception, but then the nose of the elephant, +becoming a hand, has redeemed its mind. As for the horse, whatever its +admirers may say, it is just a great ass. There is a lesson in all this: +"from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath." + +There is another dull beast which, from the point of view of the mere +systematist, seems as far removed from those that wear hoofs as it could +be, but the philosopher, considering the point at which it has arrived, +rather than the route by which it got there, will class it with them, +for its idea of life is just theirs turned topsy-turvy. The nails of the +sloth, instead of being hammered into hoofs on the hard ground, have +grown long and curved, like those of a caged bird, and become hooks by +which it can hang, without effort, in the midst of the leaves on which +it feeds. A minimum of intellect is required for such an existence, and +the sloth has lost any superfluous brain that it may have had, as well +as two, or even three, of its five toes. + +To return to those birds and beasts with standard feet, I find that the +first outside purpose for which they find them serviceable is to scratch +themselves. This is a universal need. But a foot is handy in many other +ways. A hen and chickens, getting into my garden, transferred a whole +flower-bed to the walk in half an hour. Yet a bird trying to do anything +with its foot is like a man putting on his socks standing, and birds as +a race have turned their feet to very little account outside of their +original purpose. Such a simple thing as holding down its food with one +foot scarcely occurs to an ordinary bird. A hen will pull about a +cabbage leaf and shake it in the hope that a small piece may come away, +but it never enters her head to put her foot on it. In this and other +matters the parrot stands apart, and also the hawk, eagle, and owl; but +these are not ordinary birds. + +Beasts, having twice as many feet as birds, have learned to apply them +to many uses. They dig with them, hold down their food with them, fondle +their children with them, paw their friends, and scratch their enemies. +One does more of one thing and another of another, and the feet soon +show the effects of the occupation, the claws first, then the muscles, +and even the bones dwindling by disuse, or waxing stout and strong. Then +the joy of doing what it can do well impels the beast further on the +same path, and its offspring after it. + +[Illustration: THE NOSE OF THE ELEPHANT BECOMING A HAND HAS REDEEMED +ITS MIND] + +And this leads at last to specialism. The Indian black bear is a "handy +man," like the British Tar--good all round. Its great soft paw is a very +serviceable tool and weapon, armed with claws which will take the face +off a man or grub up a root with equal ease. When a black bear has found +an ant-hill it takes but a few minutes to tear up the hard, cemented +clay and lay the deep galleries bare; then, putting its gutta-percha +muzzle to the mouth of each, it draws such a blast of air through them +that the industrious labourers are sucked into its gullet in drifts. +Afterwards it digs right down to the royal chamber, licks up the bloated +queen, and goes its way. + +But there is another worker in the same mine which does not go to work +this way. The ant-eater found fat termites so satisfying that it left +all other things and devoted its life to the exploiting of anthills, and +now it has no rival at that business, but it is fit for nothing else. +Its awkward digging tools will not allow it to put the sole of its foot +to the ground, so it has to double them under and hobble about like a +Chinese lady. It has no teeth, and stupidity is the most prominent +feature of its character. It has become that poor thing, a man of one +idea. + +But the bear is like a sign-post at a parting of the ways. If you +compare a brown bear with the black Indian, or sloth bear, as it is +sometimes called, you may detect a small but pregnant difference. When +the former walks, its claws are lifted, so that their points do not +touch the ground. Why? I have no information, but I know that it is not +content with a vegetarian diet, like its black relative, but hankers +after sheep and goats, and I guess that its murderous thoughts flow down +its nerves to those keen claws. It reminds me of a man clenching his +fist unconsciously when he thinks of the liar who has slandered him. + +[Illustration: IT HAS TO DOUBLE THEM UNDER AND HOBBLE ABOUT LIKE A +CHINESE LADY.] + +But what ages of concentration on the thought and practice of +assassination must have been required to perfect that most awful weapon +in Nature, the paw of a tiger, or, indeed, of any cat, for they are all +of one pattern. The sharpened flint of the savage has become the +scimitar of Saladin, keeping the keenness of its edge in a velvet sheath +and flashing out only on the field of battle. Compare that paw with the +foot of a dog, and you will, perhaps, see with me that the servility and +pliancy of the slave of man has usurped a place in his esteem which is +not its due. The cat is much the nobler animal. Dogs, with wolves, +jackals, and all of their kin, love to fall upon their victim in +overwhelming force, like a rascally mob, and bite, tear, and worry until +the life has gone out of it; the tiger, rushing single-handed, with a +fearful challenge, on the gigantic buffalo, grasps its nose with one paw +and its shoulder with the other, and has broken its massive neck in a +manner so dexterous and instantaneous that scarcely two sportsmen can +agree about how the thing is done. + +I have said that the foot first appeared when the backboned creatures +came out of the waters to live upon the dry land. But all mundane things +(not excepting politics) tend to move in circles, ending where they +began; and so the foot, if we follow it far enough, will take us back +into water. See how the rat--I mean our common, omnivorous, scavenging, +thieving, poaching brown rat--when it lives near a pond or stream, +learns to swim and dive as naturally as a duck. Next comes the vole, or +water-rat, which will not live away from water. Then there are water +shrews, the beaver, otter, duck-billed platypus, and a host of others, +not related, just as, among birds, there are water ousels, moorhens, +ducks, divers, etc., which have permanently made the water their home +and seek their living in it. All these have attained to web-footedness +in a greater or less degree. + +That this has occurred among reptiles, beasts, and birds alike shows +what an easy, or natural, or obvious (put it as you will) modification +it is. And it has a consequence not to be escaped. Just as a man who +rides a great deal and never walks acquires a certain indirectness of +the legs, and you never mistake a jockey for a drill-sergeant, so the +web-footed beasts are not among the things that are "comely in going." + +Following this road you arrive at the seal and sea-lion. Of all the feet +that I have looked at I know only one more utterly ridiculous than the +twisted flipper on which the sea-lion props his great bulk in front, +and that is the forked fly-flap which extends from the hinder parts of +the same. How can it be worth any beast's while to carry such an absurd +apparatus with it just for the sake of getting out into the air +sometimes and pushing itself about on the ice and being eaten by Polar +bears? The porpoise has discarded one pair, turned the other into decent +fins, and recovered a grace and power of motion in water which are not +equalled by the greyhound on land. Why have the seals hung back? I +believe I know the secret. It is the baby! No one knows where the +porpoise and the whale cradle their newborn infants--it is so difficult +to pry into the domestic ways of these sea-people--but evidently the +seals cannot manage it, so they are forced to return to the land when +the cares of maternity are on them. + +I have called the feet of these sea beasts ridiculous things, and so +they are as we see them; but strip off the skin, and lo! there appears a +plain foot, with its five digits, each of several joints, tipped with +claws--nowise essentially different, in short, from that with which the +toad, or frog, first set out in a past too distant for our infirm +imagination. Admiration itself is paralysed by a contrivance so simple, +so transmutable, and so sufficient for every need that time and change +could bring. + +There remains yet one transformation which seems simple compared with +some that I have noticed, but is more full of fate than they all; for +by it the foot becomes a hand. This comes about by easy stages. The +reason why one of a bird's four toes is turned back is quite plain: +trees are the proper home of birds, and they require feet that will +grasp branches. So those beasts also that have taken to living in trees +have got one toe detached more or less from the rest and arranged so +that it can co-operate with them to catch hold of a thing. Then other +changes quickly follow. For, in judging whether you have got hold of a +thing and how much force you must put forth to keep hold of it, you are +guided entirely by the pressure on the finger-points, and to gauge this +pressure nicely the nerves must be refined and educated. In fact, the +exercise itself, with the intent direction of the mind to the +finger-points, brings about the refinement and education in accordance +with Sandow's principle of muscle culture. + +For an example of the result do not look at the gross paw of any +so-called anthropoid ape, gorilla, orang-outang, or chimpanzee, but +study the gentle lemur. At the point of each digit is a broad elastic +pad, plentifully supplied with delicate nerves, and the vital energy +which has been directed into them appears to have been withdrawn from +the growth of the claws, which have shrunk into fine nails just +shielding the fleshy tips. In short, the lemur has a hand on each of its +four limbs, and no feet at all. And as it goes about its cage--I am at +the Zoo in spirit--with a silent wonder shining out of its great eyes, +it examines things by _feeling_ them with its hands. + +How plainly a new avenue from the outer world into its mind has been +opened by those fingers! But how about scratching? What would be the +gain of having higher susceptibilities and keener perceptions if they +only aggravated the triumph of the insulting flea? Nay, this disaster +has been averted by reserving a good sharp claw on the forefinger (not +the thumb) of each hind hand. + +The old naturalists called the apes and lemurs Quadrumana, the +"four-handed," and separated the Bimana, with one species--namely, _Homo +sapiens_. Now we have anatomy cited to belittle the difference between a +hand and a foot, and geology importuned to show us the missing link, +pending which an order has been instituted roomy enough to hold monkeys, +gorillas, and men. It is a strange perversity. How much more fitting it +were to bow in reverent ignorance before the perfect hand, taken up from +the ground, no more to dull its percipient surfaces on earth and stones +and bark, but to minister to its lord's expanding mind and obey his +creative will, while his frame stands upright and firm upon a single +pair of true feet, with their toes all in one rank. + + + + +II + + +BILLS OF BIRDS + +The prospectus, or advertisement, of a certain American typewriting +machine commences by informing the public that "The ---- typewriter is +founded on an idea." When I saw this phrase I secured it for my +collection, for I felt that, without jest, it contained the kernel of a +true philosophy of Nature. The forms, the _phainomena_, of Nature are +innumerable, multifarious, interwoven, and infinitely perplexing, and +you may spend a happy life in unravelling their relations and devising +their evolutions; but until you have looked through them and seen the +ideas that are behind them you are a mere materialist and a blind +worker. The soul of Nature is hid from you. + +What is the bill of a bird and what does it mean? I do not refer to the +bill of a hawk, or a heron, or an owl, or an ostrich, but to that which +is the abstract of all these and a thousand more. I hold, regardless of +anatomy and physiology, that a bird is a higher being than a beast. No +beast soars and sings to its sweetheart; no beast remains in lifelong +partnership with the wife of its youth; no beast builds itself a +summer-house and decks it with feathers and bright shells. A beast is a +grovelling denizen of the earth; a bird is a free citizen of the air. +And who can say that there is not a connection between this difference +and other developments? The beast, thinking only of its appetites, has +evolved a delicate nose, a discriminating palate, three kinds of teeth +to cut, tear, and grind its food, salivary glands to moisten the same, +and a perfected apparatus of digestion. + +[Illustration: GOOD FOR ANY ROUGH JOB] + +The bird, occupied with thoughts of love and beauty, with "fields, or +waves, or mountains" and "shapes of sky or plain," has made little +advance in the art and instruments of good living. It swallows its food +whole, scarcely knowing the taste of it, and a pair of forceps for +picking it up, tipped and cased with horn, is the whole of its dining +furniture. For the bill of a bird, primarily and essentially, is that +and nothing else. In the chickens and the sparrows that come to steal +their food, and the robin that looks on, and all the little dicky-birds, +you may see it in its simplicity. The size and shape may vary, as a +Canadian axe differs from a Scotch axe; some are short and stout and +have a sharp edge for shelling seeds; some are longer and fine-pointed, +for picking worms and caterpillars out of their hiding-places; some a +little hooked at their points, and one, that of the crossbill, with +points crossed for picking the small seeds out of fir-cones; but all +are practically the same tool. Yet the last distinctly points the way to +those modifications by which the simple bill is gradually adapted to one +special purpose or another, until it becomes a wonderful mechanism in +which the original intention is quite out of sight. + +At this point I find an instructive parable in my tool chest. Fully half +of the tools are just knives. A chisel is a knife, a plane is a knife +set in a block of wood, a saw is a knife with the edge notched. +Moreover, there are many sorts of curious planes and saws, each intended +for one distinct kind of fine work. All these the joiner has need of, +but a schoolboy would rather have one good, strong pocket-knife than the +whole boxful. For, just in proportion as each tool is perfected for its +own special work, it becomes useless for any other. And your schoolboy +is not a specialist. He wants a tool that will cut a stick, carve a +boat, peel an apple, dig out a worm--in short, one that will do whatever +his active mind wants done. + +Now apply this parable to the birds. If you see a bill that is nothing +but a large and powerful pair of forceps, good for any rough job, you +may know without further inquiry that the owner is no limited +specialist, but a "handy man," bold, enterprising, resourceful, and good +all round. He will not starve in the desert. No wholesome food comes +amiss to him--grub, slug, or snail, fruit, eggs, a live mouse or a dead +rat, and he can deal with them all. Such are the magpie, the crow, the +jackdaw, and all of that ilk; and these are the birds that are found in +all countries and climates, and prosper wherever they go. + +[Illustration: NO DOUBT EACH BIRD SWEARS BY ITS OWN PATTERN.] + +But all birds cannot play that part. One is timid, another fastidious, +another shy but ingenious. So, in the universal competition for a +living, each has taken its own line according to the bent of its nature, +and its one tool has been perfected for its trade until it can follow no +other. The thrush catches such worms as rashly show themselves +above-ground; but an ancient ancestor of the snipe found that, if it +followed them into marshy lands, it could probe the soft ground and drag +them out of their chambers. For this operation it has now a bill three +inches long, straight, thin and sensitive at the tip, a beautiful +instrument, but good for no purpose except extracting worms from soft +ground. If frost or drought hardens the ground, the snipe must starve or +travel. Among the many "lang nebbit" birds that follow the same +profession as the snipe, some, like the curlew and the ibis, have curved +bills of prodigious length. I do not know the comparative advantages of +the two forms, but no doubt each bird swears by its own pattern, as +every golfer does by his own putter. + +But now behold another grub-hunter, which, distasting mud, has +discovered an unworked mine in the trunks of trees. There, in deep +burrows, lurked great succulent beetle-grubs, demanding only a tool with +which they might be dug out. This has been perfected by many stages, and +I have now before me a splendid specimen of the most improved +pattern--namely, the bill of the great black woodpecker of Western +India, a bird nearly as big as a crow. It is nothing else than a hatchet +in two parts, which, when locked together, present a steeled edge about +three-eighths of an inch in breadth. The hatchet is two and a half +inches long by one in breadth at the base, and a prominent ridge, or +keel, runs down the top from base to point. It is further strengthened +by a keel on each side. Inside of it, ere the bird became a mummy, was +her tongue, which I myself drew out three inches beyond the point of the +bill. It was rough and tough, like gutta-percha, tipped with a fine +spike, and armed on each side, for the last inch of its length, with a +row of sharp barbs pointing backwards. The whole was lubricated with +some patent stickfast, "always ready for use." That grub must sit tight +indeed which this corkscrew will not draw when once the hatchet has +opened a way. + +The swallows and swifts, untirable on their wings, but too gentle to +hold their own in a jostling crowd, soared away after the midges and +May-flies and pestilent gnats that rise from marsh and pond to hold +their joyous dances under the blue dome. Continually rushing +open-mouthed after these, they have stretched their gape from ear to +ear; but their bills have dwindled by disuse and left only an apology +for their absence. + +Compared with all these, the birds that can do with a diet of fruit only +lead an easy life. They have just to pluck and eat--that is, if they are +pleased with small fruits and content to swallow them whole. But the +hornbills, being too bulky to hop among twigs, need a long reach; hence +the portentous machines which they carry on their faces. The beak of a +hornbill is nothing else than a pair of tongs long enough to reach and +strong enough to wrench off a wild fig from its thick stem. If it were +of iron it would be thin and heavy; being of cellular horn-stuff it is +bulky but light. If you ask why it should rise up into an absurd helmet +on the queer fowl's head, I cannot tell. Nature has quaint ways of using +up surplus material. + +[Illustration: ITS BILL DESERVES STUDY] + +An easy life begets luxury, and among fruit-eaters the parrot has become +an epicure. It will not swallow its food whole, and its bill deserves +study. In birds generally the upper mandible is more or less joined to +the skull, leaving only the lower jaw free to move. But in the parrot +the upper mandible is also hinged, so that each plays freely on the +other. The upper, as we all know, is hooked and pointed; the lower has a +sharp edge. The tongue is thick, muscular, and sensitive. The whole +makes a wonderful instrument, unique among birds, for feelingly +manipulating a dainty morsel, shelling, peeling, and slicing, until +nothing is left but the sweetest part of the core. Of all gourmands +Polly is the most shameless waster. + +Long before land, trees, and air had been exploited the primitive bird +must have discovered the harvest of the waters, and here the competition +has been very keen indeed. Yet the form of bill most in use is very +simple--just a plain pair of forceps, long and sharp-pointed like +scissors. This is evidently hard to beat, for birds of many sorts use +it, handling it variously. The kingfisher plumps bodily down on the +minnow from an overhanging perch; the solan goose, soaring, plunges from +a "pernicious height"; the heron, high on its stilts, darts out a long +and serpentine neck; the diver, with similar beak and neck, but +different legs, pursues the fleeing shoals under water; to the swift and +slippery fish all are alike terrible in their certainty. + +There are, however, other varieties of the fishing bill. Some have a +hook at the point, as that of the cormorant, and some are straight at +the top, but curved on the under side. This last form is handy for +storks, which do not pluck fish out of water so much, but scoop up +frogs, crabs, and reptiles from the ground. The ridiculous bill of the +puffin, or sea-parrot, is an eccentricity. There may be some idea in it, +but I suspect it is an effect of vanity merely, being coloured blue, +yellow, and red, and quite in keeping with the other absurdities of the +wearer. + +Apart from all these and by itself stands a princely fisher whose bill +is no modification, but an original invention and a marvellous one. +Larger than a swan and gluttonous withal, the pelican cannot live on +single fishes. It has given up angling altogether and taken to netting; +and the way in which the net has been constructed out of the pair of +forceps provided in the original plan of its construction is as well +worth your examining as anything I know. It is a foot in length, the +upper jaw is flat and broad, while the lower consists of two thin, +elastic bones joined at the point, a mere ring to carry the curious +yellow bag that hangs from it. In pictures this is represented as a +creel in which the kind pelican carries home the children's breakfast; +you are allowed to see the tail of a big fish hanging out. But it is not +a creel; it is a net. The great birds, marshalled in line on some broad +lake or marsh, and beating the water with their wings, drive the fish +before them until they have got a dense crowd huddled in panic and +confusion between them and the shore. Now watch them narrowly. As +each monstrous bill opens, the thin bones of the lower jaw stretch +sideways to the breadth of a span by some curious mechanism not +described in the books, and at the same time the shrunken bag expands +into a deep, capacious net. Simultaneously the whole instrument is +plunged into the struggling, silvery mass and comes up full. The side +bones instantly contract again, and the upper jaw is clapped on them +like a lid. No wonder the fishermen of the East detest the pelican. + +[Illustration: HERE THE COMPETITION HAS BEEN VERY KEEN INDEED.] + +[Illustration: AS WONDERFUL AS THE PELICAN, BUT HOW OPPOSITE!] + +In the same marsh, perhaps, standing with unequalled grace upon the +longest legs known in this world, is a troop of giant birds as wonderful +as the pelican, but how opposite! The beautiful flamingo is a bird of +feeble intellect, delicate appetite, and genteel tastes. It cannot eat +fish, for its slender throat would scarcely admit a pea. Besides, the +idea of catching anything, or even picking up food from the ground, does +not occur to its simple mind. Its diet consists of certain small +crustaceans, classed by naturalists with water-fleas, which abound in +brackish water; and it has an instrument for taking these which it knows +how to use. I kept flamingos once, and, after trying many things in +vain, offered them bran, or boiled rice, floating in water. Then they +dined, and I learned the construction and working of the most marvellous +of all bills. The lower jaw is deep and hollow, and its upper edges turn +in to meet each other, so that you may fairly describe it as a pipe +with a narrow slit along the upper side. In this pipe lies the tongue, +and it cannot get out, for it is wider than the slit, but it can be +pressed against the top to close the slit, and then the lower jaw +becomes an actual pipe. The root of the tongue is furnished on both +sides with a loose fringe which we will call the first strainer. The +upper jaw is thin and flat and rests on the lower like a lid, and it is +beautifully fringed along both sides with small, leathery points, close +set, like the teeth of a very fine saw. This is the second strainer. To +work the machine you dip the point into dirty water full of water-fleas, +draw back the tip of the tongue a little, and suck in water till the +lower jaw (the pipe) is full, then close the point again with the tip of +the tongue and force the water out. It can only get out by passing +through the first strainers at the root of the tongue, then over the +palate, and so through the second strainers at the sides of the bill; +and all the solid matter it contained will remain in the mouth. The +sucking in and squirting out of the water is managed by the cheeks, or +rather by the cheek, for a flamingo has only one cheek, and that is +situated under the chin. When the bird is feeding you will see this +throbbing faster than the eye can follow it, while water squirts from +the sides of the mouth in a continuous stream. I should have said that +the whole bill is sharply bent downwards at the middle. The advantage of +this is that when the bird lets down its head into the water, like a +bucket into a well, the point of the bill does not stick in the mud, but +lies flat on it, upside down. + +In conclusion, let us not fail to note, whatever be our political creed, +that, while all the birds pursue their respective industries, there sit +apart, in pride of place, some whose bills are not tools wherewith to +work, but weapons wherewith to slay. And these take tribute of the rest, +not with their consent, but of right. + + + + +III + + +TAILS + +The secrets of Nature often play like an iridescence on the surface, and +escape the eye of her worshipper because it is stopped with a +microscope. There are mysteries all about us as omnipresent as the +movement of the air that lifts the smoke and stirs the leaves, which I +cannot find that any philosopher has looked into. Often and deeply have +I been impressed with this. For example, there is scarcely, in this +world, a commoner or a humbler thing than a tail, yet how multifarious +is it in aspect, in construction, and in function, a hundred different +things and yet one. Some are of feathers and some of hair, and some bare +and skinny; some are long and some are short, some stick up and some +hang down, some wag for ever and some are still; the uses that they +serve cannot be numbered, but one name covers them all. In the course of +evolution they came in with the fishes and went out with man. What was +their purpose and mission? What place have they filled in the scheme of +things? In short, what is the true inwardness of a tail? + +If we try to commence--as scientific method requires--with a +definition, we stumble on a key, at the very threshold, which opens the +door. For there is no definition of a tail; it is not, in its nature, +anything at all. When an animal's fore-legs are fitted on to its +backbone at the proper distance from the hind-legs, if any of the +backbone remains over, we call it a tail. But it has no purpose; it is a +mere surplus, which a tailor (the pun is unavoidable) would have trimmed +off. And, lo! in this very negativeness lies the whole secret of the +multifarious positiveness of tails. For the absence of special purpose +is the chance of general usefulness. The ear must fulfil its purpose or +fail entirely, for it can do nothing else. Eyes, nose and mouth, hands +and feet, all have their duties; the tail is the unemployed. And if we +allow that life has had any hand in the shaping of its own destiny, then +the ingenuity of the devices for turning the useless member to account +affords one of the most exhilarating subjects of contemplation in the +whole panorama of Nature. The fishes fitted it up at once as a +twin-propeller, with results so satisfactory that the whale and the +porpoise, coming long after, adopted the invention. And be it noted that +these last and their kin are now the only ocean-going mammals in the +world. The whole tribe of paddle-steamers, such as seals and walruses +and dugongs, are only coasters. + +Among those beasts that would live on the dry land, the primitive +kangaroo could think of nothing better to do with his tail than to make +a stool of it. It was a simple thought, but a happy one. Sitting up +like a gentleman, he has his hands free to scratch his ribs or twitch +his moustache. And when he goes he needs not to put them to the ground, +for his great tail so nearly equals the weight of his body that one pair +of legs keeps the balance even. And so the kangaroo, almost the lowest +of beasts, comes closer to man in his postures than any other. The +squirrel also sits up and uses his forepaws for hands, but the squirrel +is a sybarite who lies abed in cold weather, and it is every way +characteristic of him that he has sent his tail to the furrier and had +it done up into a boa, or comforter, at once warm and becoming. See, +too, how daintily he lifts it over his back to keep it clean. The rat is +a near relation of the squirrel zoologically, but personally he is a +gutter-snipe, and you may know that by one look at the tail which he +drags after him like a dirty rope. Others of the same family, cleaner, +though not more ingenious, like the guinea-pig, have simply dispensed +with the encumbrance; but the rabbit has kept enough to make a white +cockade, which it hoists when bolting from danger. This is for the +guidance of the youngsters. Nearly every kind of deer and antelope +carries the same signal, with which, when fleeing through dusky woods, +the leader shows the way to the herd and the doe to her fawn. + +But of beasts that graze and browse, a large number have turned their +tails rather to a use which throws a pathetic light on misery of which +we have little experience. We do, indeed, growl at the gnats of a summer +evening and think ourselves very ill-used. How little do we know or +think of the unintermitted and unabated torment that the most harmless +classes of beasts suffer from the bands of beggars which follow them +night and day, demanding blood, and will take no refusal. Driven from +the brow they settle on the neck, shaken from the neck they dive between +the legs, and but for that far-reaching whisk at the end of the tail, +they would found a permanent colony on the flanks and defy ejection, +like the raiders of Vatersay. Darwin argues that the tail-brush may have +materially helped to secure the survival of those species of beasts that +possessed it, and no doubt he is right. + +The subject is interminable, but we must give a passing glance to some +quixotic tails. The opossum scampers up a tree, carrying all her +numerous family on her back, and they do not fall off because each +infant is securely moored by its own tail to the uplifted tail of its +mother. The opossum is a very primitive beast, and so early and useful +an invention should, one would think, have been spread widely in after +time; but there appears to be some difficulty in developing muscles at +the thin end of a long tail, for the animals that have turned it into a +grasping organ are few and are widely scattered. Examples are the +chameleon among lizards, our own little harvest mouse, and, pre-eminent +above all, the American monkeys. To a howler, or spider-monkey, its +long tail is a swing and a trapeze in its forest gymnasium. Humboldt saw +(he says it) a cluster of them all hanging from a tree by one tail, +which proceeded from a Sandow in the middle. I should like to see that +too. It is worth noting, by the way, that no old-world monkey has +attained to this application of its tail. + +Then there is the beaver, whose tail I am convinced is a trowel. I know +of no naturalist who has mentioned this, but such negative evidence is +of little weight. The beaver, as everybody knows, is a builder, who cuts +down trees and piles log upon log until he has raised a solid, domed +cabin from seven to twenty feet in diameter, which he then plasters over +with clay and straw. If he does not turn round and beat the work smooth +with his tail, then I require to know for what purpose he carries that +broad, heavy, and hard tool behind him. + +How few even among lovers of Nature know why a frog has no tail! The +reason-is simply that it used that organ up when it was in want. In +early life, as a jolly tadpole, it had a flourishing tail to swim with, +and gills for breathing water, and an infantile mouth for taking +vegetable nourishment. But when it began to draw near to frog's estate, +serious changes were required in its structure to fit it for the life of +a land animal. Four tiny legs appeared from under its skin, the gills +gave place to air-breathing lungs, and the infant lips to a great, +gaping mouth. Now, during this "temporary alteration of the premises" +all business was of necessity stopped. The half-fish, half-frog could +neither sup like an infant nor eat like a man. In this extremity it fed +on its own tail--absorbed it as a camel is said to absorb its hump when +travelling in the foodless desert--and so it entered on its new life +without one. + +Aeronautics have changed the whole perspective of life for birds, as +they may for us shortly; so it is no surprise to find that birds have, +almost with one consent, converted their tails into steering-gear. A +commonplace bird, like a sparrow, scarcely requires this except as a +brake when in the act of alighting; but to those birds with which flight +is an art and an accomplishment, an expansive forked or rounded tail +(there are two patents) is indispensable. We have shot almost all the +birds of this sort in our own country, and must travel if we would enjoy +that enchanting sight--a pair of eagles or a party of kites gone aloft +for a sail when the wind is rising, like skaters to a pond when the ice +is bearing. For an hour on end, in restful ease or swift joy, they trace +ever-varying circles and spirals against the dark storm-cloud, now +rising, now falling, turning and reversing, but never once flapping +their widespread pinions. + +How is it done? How does the _Shamrock_ sail? Watch, and you will see. +When the wind is behind, each stiff quill at the end of the wing stands +out by itself and is caught and driven by the blast; but as the bird +turns round to face the gale, they all close up and form a continuous +mainsail, close-hauled. And all the while the expanded tail is in play, +dipping first at one side and then at the other, and turning the trim +craft with easy grace "as the governor listeth." + +[Illustration: THERE ARE SOME ECCENTRICS, SUCH AS JENNY WREN, WHICH HAVE +DESPISED THEIR TAILS.] + +Besides ground birds, like the quail, there are some eccentrics, such as +Jenny wren, which have despised their tails, and there are specialists +also which require them for other purposes than flying. The woodpecker's +tail is quite useless as a rudder, for he is a woodman and has altered +and adapted it for a portable stool to rest against as he plies his axe. + +But that man must be very blind to the place which birds have taken in +the progress of civilisation who can suppose it possible that they +should think only of utility in such a question as the disposal of their +tails. It is a common notion among those who have acquired some +smattering of the theory of evolution that fishes developed into +reptiles, reptiles into birds, and birds into beasts; but this is as +wrong as it could be. Whatever the genealogy of the beasts may be, they +certainly were not evolved from birds, and are in many respects not +above them but below them. These are two independent branches of the +tree of living forms, as the Greeks and Romans were branches of the +stock of Japheth. The beasts may stand for the conquering Romans if you +like, but the birds are the Greeks, and have advanced far beyond them in +all emotional and artistic sensibility. They worship in the temple of +music and beauty. And, like ourselves, they have found no subject so +worthy of the highest efforts of art as their own dress. But the +clothing of the body must conform more or less to the figure, and so, +for a field in which invention and fancy may sport untrammelled, a lady +turns to her hat and a bird to its tail. And by both, with equal +heroism, every consideration of mere comfort, convenience, health, or +safety is swept aside in obedience to the higher aim. Is this only a +flippant jocularity, or is there here in very truth some profound law of +the mind revealing itself in spheres seemingly so disconnected? + +Look at a peacock. Its train, by the way, is a false tail, like the +chignon of twenty years ago, or the fringe of the present day; the true +tail is under it, and serves no purpose but to support it. Now the +peacock lives on the ground, among scrub and brushwood, haunted by +jackals and wild cats. They, like soldiers in khaki, reconnoitre him in +a uniform expressly designed to elude the eye, but he flaunts a flag +resplendent with green and gold. And when his one chance of life lies in +springing nimbly from the ground and committing himself to his strong +wings, he must lift and carry this ponderous paraphernalia with him. And +the terrible Bonelli's eagle is soaring above. But all is risked proudly +for the sake of the morning hour in the glade where the ladies assemble. +And the peacock is only one of many. Not to mention the lyre bird, the +Argus pheasant, the bird of paradise, and other splendid examples, there +are common dicky-birds which point the moral and adorn the tail as +emphatically. + +If the tail is a rudder, where should you look to find it in its most +simple and efficient form but among the flycatchers, which make their +living by aerial acrobatics after flies? Yet this family seems to be +peculiarly prone to the vanity of a stylish tail. The paradise +flycatcher flutters two streamers a foot long, like white ribbons, +behind it. The fantail could hide behind its own fan. The bee-eater has +the two central feathers prolonged and pointed. The drongos, which are +flycatchers in habit, wear their tails very long and deeply forked; and +one of them, the racket-tailed drongo, has the two side feathers +extended beyond the rest for nearly a foot, and as thin as wires, +expanding into a blade at the ends. I have seen nothing in ladies' hats +more preposterous. It is vain to object that there can be no proper +comparison between tails and hats because the woman chooses her own hat +while the bird has to wear what Nature has given it. I know that, but +the contention is utterly superficial. What choice has a woman as to the +style of her hat? Fashion prescribes for her, and Nature for the birds; +that is all the difference. No doubt she acquiesces when theoretically +she might rebel. The bird cannot rebel, but does it not acquiesce? Does +a lyre bird submit to its tail--wear it under protest, so to speak? +Believe me, every bird that has an aesthetic tail knows the fact, and +tries to live up to it. We may push the argument even further, for the +motmot of Brazil is not content with a ready-made tail, but actually +strips the web off the two long side feathers with its own beak, except +a little patch at the end, so as to get the pattern which Nature, if one +must use the phrase, gave to the racket-tailed drongo. A specimen is +exhibited in the hall of the South Kensington Museum. + +[Illustration: A BLACKBIRD AND A STARLING--THE ONE LIFTS ITS SKIRTS, +WHILE THE OTHER WEARS A WALKING DRESS.] + +In this connection I may also say that the shape or colour of a tail is +not everything. An observant eye may find much to note in the wearing of +them. There is a stylish way of carrying a tail and a slovenly way, and +there are coquettish arts for the display of recherche tails. A +blackbird and a starling are both tidy birds, and both walk much on the +ground, but the one lifts its skirts, while the other, more practical +and less fashionable, wears a walking dress and saves itself trouble. + +This line of observation leads to a higher, and reveals the most +important purpose that tails have served in the economy of beast, bird, +and reptile, and, perhaps, even cold-blooded fish. Before the godlike +countenance of man appeared on the earth, with its contractile forehead +and erectile eyebrows, the answering light of the eye, the expansive +nostrils, and subtilely mobile lips; before that the tail was the prime +vehicle of emotion and safety-valve of passion. It is a great truth, too +often buried in these days under rubbish of materialistic theories, that +some way of self-manifestation is a supreme necessity of all sentient +life. From the hot centre of thought and feeling the currents rush along +the nervous ways and pervade the whole frame, seeking an outlet. But +many passages are barred by duty, or fear, or eager purpose. A strong +gust of passion may burst all barriers and force its way out at every +point, but gentle currents flow along the lines of least resistance and +find the idle tail. I do not know a better illustration of this than a +cat watching a mouse. The ears are pricked forward, the eyes are fixed +on the unsuspecting victim, every muscle of the legs is tense, like a +bent bow ready to speed the arrow on its way. But see, the excitement +with which the whole body is charged cannot be wholly restrained, and +oozes out at the point of the tail. + +[Illustration: AT THE SIGHT OF A RIVAL THE DOG HOLDS ITS TAIL UP +STIFFLY] + +Every emotion and passion takes this course. The happy kid wags its tail +as it runs to its mother, the donkey when it has executed a successful +bray, and the dog when it sees its master. At the sight of a rival the +dog holds its tail up stiffly, unless, indeed, the rival is a bigger dog +than itself, in which case the index goes down quickly between the legs. +An elated horse elevates its tail, and so does a duck in the same mood. +A lizard preparing to fight another lizard + + Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail, + +and the raging lion of fiction lashes its sides with the same nervous +instrument. + +It would be tedious to dwell on the pretty part which the tail plays in +the courtships of sparrows and pigeons, or on the sprightly attitudes by +which birds of all sorts let off their spirits when shower and sunshine +have overfilled their hearts with gladness. But birds twitch their tails +constantly, without meaning anything by it. The ceaseless wagging of a +wagtail is a mere habit of cheerfulness, like the twirling of her thumbs +by an idle Scotswoman. The long tail is there and something must be done +with it. Look at the embarrassment which a nervous young man shows about +the disposal of his hands; how he thrusts them into his trouser pockets, +hangs them by their thumbs from the arm-holes of his waistcoat, or gives +them a walking-stick to play with. I like to imagine what such a fellow +would do with a long tail if he had it--how he would wind it round each +leg in turn, rub up his back hair, and describe figures on the floor. +But no animal so self-conscious as man could bear up long under the +nervous strain of having to think continually of its tail. It would die +young and the race would become extinct. Perhaps it did. + +A final word on the conclusion of the whole matter, for these +reflections have a moral. As habit becomes character, so expression +hardens into feature. The tail of a sheep grows downwards, but that of a +goat upwards, and this is the only infallible outward mark of +distinction between the two animals. But it is the permanent record of a +long history. The sheep was never anything but sheepish; the goat and +its forefathers were pert as kids and insolent when their beards grew. +It is useless to inquire why insolence should express itself by an +upturned tail until someone can advance a reason why it should express +itself in another way. + +For proof of the fact you need go no farther than your own dogs. The +ancestral wolf, or jackal, hunting and fighting, fearing and hoping, +showed every changing mood by the pose of its tail; but a change came +when it acquired an assured position of security and importance as the +chosen companion of man, so dreaded by all its kith and kin. The tail +went up at once and stayed there; when it could go no higher, it curled +over. But promotion breeds conceit only in base natures. The greyhound +is a gentleman, respectful and self-respecting, and it shows that by the +very carriage of its tail. Only a snob at heart, petted and pampered for +many generations, could have produced that perfect incarnation of smug +self-satisfaction, the pug. Let us take the lesson home. The thoughts on +which we let our minds dwell, and the sentiments that we harbour in our +hearts, are the chisels with which we are carving out our faces and +those of our children's children. + + + + +IV + + +NOSES + +Some may think that I have chosen a trivial subject, and they will look +for frivolous treatment of it. I can only hope that they will be +disappointed. There is nothing that the progress of science has taught +us more emphatically than this--that we must call nothing insignificant. +Seemingly trivial pursuits have led to discoveries which have benefited +all mankind, and priceless truths have been dug out of the most +unpromising mines. I am not insinuating that anyone's nose is an +unpromising mine, but I say that I am persuaded there is wisdom hidden +in that organ for him who will observingly distil it out. + +[Illustration: A SHREW CAN DO IT, BUT NOT A MAN.] + +It possesses a peculiar and mystical significance not shared by any +other feature. This is abundantly proved by common speech, which is one +of the most trustworthy of all kinds of evidence. For example, we speak +of a person turning up his nose at a good offer. The phrase is absurd, +for the power of turning up his nose is one which no human being ever +possessed. A shrew can do it, but not a man. Yet the meaning of the +saying needs no interpretation. Akin to it is the classical phrase, +_adunco suspendere naso_. What Horace means scarcely requires +explanation, but no commentator has successfully explained it. These +expressions well illustrate the mystery that enshrouds our most salient +feature. They show that, while everybody can see that disdain is +expressed through the nose, nobody can define how it is done. Then there +is that curious expression "put his nose out of joint," which is quite +inexplicable, the nose being destitute of joint. There are many other +phrases and also gestures which point in the same direction, but need +not be cited, being for the most part vulgar. Allusions to the nose have +a tendency to be vulgar, which is another mystery inciting us to +investigate it. So let us proceed. + +The first thing required by the principles of scientific precedure is a +definition. What is a nose? But this proves to be a much more difficult +question than anyone would suspect before he tried to answer it. The +individual human nose we can recognise, describe or sketch more easily +than any other feature, but try to define the thing _nose_ in Nature and +it is a most elusive phenomenon. When we speak of a man being led by the +nose we imply that it is a part of him which is prominent and situated +in front, when we speak of keeping one's nose above water we refer to it +as the breathing orifice, but when we say that this or that offends our +nose we are regarding it as the seat of the sense of smell. I believe +that all these three ideas must be included in any definition. It should +follow that insects, which breathe through holes in their sides, cannot +have noses, and this is the truth. + +Fishes, too, though they may have snouts, have not noses, because they +breathe by gills. In truth, it seems that the nose was a very late and +high acquisition, almost the finishing touch of the perfected animal +form. And incidentally this leads us to notice what a great step was +taken in evolution when the breathing holes were brought up to the +region of the mouth. For the sense of taste is necessarily situated in +the mouth, and the sense of smell is in close alliance with it. The +mouth tastes food dissolved in the saliva during the process of +mastication, and the primary use of the sense of smell is to detect and +analyse beforehand the small particles given off by food and floating in +the atmosphere. + +A good many years ago, when the late Sally chimpanzee was the darling of +the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, I watched her eating dates. She +was an epicure, and always peeled each date delicately with her +preposterous lips before eating it, and during the process she would +apply the date to her nose every second to test its quality or enjoy its +aroma. The action was indescribably comical, but what would it have been +if her nostrils had been situated among her ribs? Imagine a mantis, for +example, as he chews up a fly, lifting one of his wings and applying it +to his flanks to see if it smells gamey. That is where some naturalists +believe that the sense of smell is situated in insects. Others, however, +think, with reason, that it is in the antennae or mouth. Nobody knows; +the senses of the lower animals seem to be stuck about all parts of the +body. + +But, even if the sense of smell is at the mouth, how limited must its +usefulness be when it can only deal with substances that are held to it! +A new era dawned when the passages by which the breath of life +unceasingly comes and goes were transferred to the region of the mouth +also. The nerves of smell quickly spread themselves over the lining +membrane of those passages and became warders of the gate, challenging +every waft of air that entered the body and examining what it carried. +Thenceforth this region comprising the mouth, nostrils and surrounding +parts holds a new and high place in the economy of the body, for the +headquarters of the intelligence department are located there, and all +the faculties of the brain converge on that point. Of course, the eyes +and ears claim a share, but they are not far off. + +Now it is being recognised more and more clearly by medical and +physiological science that when the mind is much directed to any part of +the body it exercises an influence in some way not understood on the +flow of blood to that part to a degree which may seriously affect its +functions and even its growth. When a person is suffering from any +nervous affection, from heart disease, or even from weakness of the +eyes, it is of the utmost importance to keep him from knowing it if +possible, for if he knows it he will think about it, and that will +inevitably aggravate it. This principle is well recognised in systems of +physical culture. And surely it is impossible that so much intelligence +should pass through that one sensitive region of the body which we are +considering without affecting its growth and structure. Every muscle in +it becomes quick to respond to various sensations in different ways, +till the very recollection of those sensations will excite the same +response. + +Nay, we may go further. The mental emotions excited by those sensations +will be expressed in the same way. For example, the sense of smell is +peculiarly effective in exciting disgust. Anything which does violence +to the sense of hearing exasperates, but does not disgust. If a man +practises the accordion all day in the next room you do not loathe him, +you only want to kill him. But anything that stinks excites pure +disgust. Here you have the key to the fact that disgust and all feelings +akin to it, disdain, contempt and scorn, express themselves through the +nose. Darwin says that when we think of anything base or vile in a man's +character the expression of the face is the same "as if we smelled a bad +smell." This is an example of the temporary expression of a passing +emotion, and there are many others like it. But each of us has his +prevailing and dominant emotions which constitute the habitual +attitude of his mind. And by the habitual indulgence of any emotion the +features will become habituated to the expression of it, and so the set +of our features comes at last to express our prevailing and dominant +emotions; in other words, our _character_. + +[Illustration: THE NOSTRILS OF THE APTERYX ARE AT THE TIP OF ITS BEAK.] + +But let us return to the evolution of the nose. In these days of +universal "Nature study" nobody need be told that the practice of +breathing through the nostrils was introduced by the amphibians and +reptiles. The former (frogs and toads) take to it only when they come of +age, but lizards, snakes and all other reptiles do it from infancy. But +the nose is not yet. That is something too delicate to come out of a +cold-blooded snout covered with hard scales. Birds, too, by having their +mouth parts encased in a horny bill seem to be debarred from wearing +noses. And yet there is one primeval fowl, most ancient of all the +feathered families, which has come near it. I mean the apteryx, that +eccentric, wingless recluse which hides itself in the scrub jungles of +New Zealand. Its nostrils, unlike those of every other bird, are at the +tip of its beak, which is swollen and sensitive; and Dr. Buller says +that as it wanders about in the night it makes a continual sniffing and +softly taps the walls of its cage with the point of its bill. But the +apteryx is one of those odd geniuses which come into the world too soon, +and perish ineffectual. Its kindred are all extinct, and so will it be +ere long. + +[Illustration: A BOLD ATTEMPT TO GROW IN THE CASE OF A TAPIR] + +When we come to the beasts we find the right conditions at last for the +growth of the nose. Take the horse for an example of the average beast +without idiosyncrasy. Its profile is nearly a straight line from the +crown to the nostrils, beyond which it slopes downwards to the lips. The +skin of this part is soft and smooth, without hair, and the horse dearly +loves to have it fondled. The sense of touch is evidently uppermost. At +this stage there was what to the eye of fancy looks like a bold attempt +to grow a nose in the case of a tapir, but it miscarried. These hoofed +beasts are all very hard up for something in the way of a hand to bring +their food to their mouths. The camel employs its lips and the cow its +tongue; the muntjae or barking deer of India has attained a tongue of +such length that it uses it for a handkerchief to wipe its eyes. So the +tapir could not resist the temptation to misapply its nose to the +purpose of gathering fodder, and the ultimate result was the elephant, +whose nose is a wonderful hand and a bucket and other things. The pig, +being a swine, debased its nose in a worse way, making a grubbing tool +of it. + +There has been another attempt to misuse and pervert this part of the +face which I scarcely dare to touch upon, for it is so utterly fantastic +and mystical that I fear the charge of heresy if I give words to my +thoughts. It occurs among bats, a tribe of obscure creatures about which +common knowledge amounts to this, that they fly about after sunset, are +uncanny, and fond of getting entangled in the hair of ladies, and should +be killed. But there are certain families of bats, named horseshoe bats, +leaf-nosed bats and vampires about which common knowledge is _nil_, and +the knowledge possessed by naturalists very little, so I will tell what +I know of them. They are larger than common bats, their wings are broad, +soft and silent, like those of the owl, they sleep in caves, tombs and +ruins, they do not flutter in the open air, but swiftly traverse gloomy +avenues and shady glades, their prey is not gnats and midges, but the +"droning beetle," the death's head moth, the cockchafer, croaking frogs, +sleeping birds and _human blood_. The books will tell you that these +bats are distinguished by "complicated nasal appendages consisting of +foliaceous skin processes around the nostrils," which is quite true and +utterly futile. It may do for a dried skin or a specimen in spirits of +wine. I have had the foul fiend in a cage and looked him in the face. +His whole countenance, from lips to brow and from cheek to cheek, is +covered and hidden by a hideous design of + + Spells and signs, + Symbolic letters, circles, lines, + +sculptured in living, quivering skin. It is a sight to make the flesh +creep. The books suggest that these foliaceous appendages are the organs +of some special sense akin to touch. Futile again! There are things in +Nature still which prompt the naturalist who has not atrophied his inner +eye and starved his imagination to cry out: + + Science ... + Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart, + Vulture, whose wings are dull realities? + +Supposing there should be in the unseen universe an evil spirit, an imp +of malice and mischief, not Milton's Satan, but the Deil of Burns: + + Whyles ranging, like a roaring lion, + For prey, a' holes an' corners tryin; + Whyles on the strong-winged tempest flyin, + Tirlin the kirks; + Whyles in the human bosom pryin, + +and supposing him to crave possession of a body through which he might +get into touch with this material world and express himself in outward +forms and motions; then oh! how fitly were this bat explained. + +But let us go back to firm ground. If you compare a dog's profile with +that of a horse you will note at once that the nostrils are in advance +of the lips, and have a kind of portal to themselves. This is a distinct +advance. The sense of smell has come to the front and pushed aside the +lower sense of touch. You will observe, too, that with the growth of the +brain the brain-pan has elevated itself above the level of the nose. +Through the cat to the monkeys the process proceeds, the forehead +advancing, the jaws retreating, and the nostrils leaving the lips, until +they finally settle in a detached villa midway between the eyes and the +mouth. This is the nose. I do not know the use of it. I cannot fathom +the meaning of it. It is a solemn mystery. See the face of an +orang-outang. It is a _countenance_, a signboard with three distinct +lines of writing on it, the eyes, the nose and the mouth. You may not +think much of this particular nose. Neither do I. I think it is +situated rather too near the eyes and too far from the mouth. It is a +little too small also, and wants style. But you must not judge a first +attempt too critically. I have seen human noses of a pattern not unlike +this, but they are not considered aristocratic: perhaps they indicate a +reversion to the ancestral type. + +[Illustration: I HAVE SEEN HUMAN NOSES OF A PATTERN NOT UNLIKE THIS, BUT +THEY ARE NOT CONSIDERED ARISTOCRATIC.] + +But the noses even of monkeys are not all like this. In fact, there is a +good deal of variety, and two in particular have struck me as quite +remarkable. One is that of the long-nosed monkey (_Semnopithecus +nasalis_). I think it must have suggested Sterne's stranger on a mule, +who had travelled to the promontory of noses and threw all Strassburg +into a ferment. I have often contemplated this nose in mute wonderment, +and longed to see that monkey in life, if so be I might arrive at some +understanding of it; for the taxidermist cannot rise above his own +level, and the man who would mount _S. nasalis_ would need to be a Henry +Irving. Then there is the sub-nosed monkey, labelled _rhinopithecus_, of +which there is an expressive specimen at the South Kensington Museum. +Who can consider that nose seriously and continue to believe in a +recipe made up of struggle for existence, adaptation to environment, and +natural selection _quantum suf_.? If I could dine with that monkey, ask +it to drink a glass of wine with me, offer it a pinch of snuff and so +on, I might come in time to feel, if not to comprehend, the import of +its nose. + +[Illustration: THE LONG-NOSED MONKEY.] + +[Illustration: WHO CAN CONSIDER THAT NOSE SERIOUSLY?] + +But one step further is required for the evolution of what we may call +the human nose, and that is a solid foundation, a ridge of bone +connecting it with the brow and separating the eyes from each other. I +believe that the completeness of this is a fair index of the comparative +advancement of different races of men. In the Greek ideal of a perfect +face the profile forms a straight line from the top of the forehead to +the tip of the nose. This is the type of face which painters have +delighted to give to the Virgin Mary; and, when looking at their +Madonnas, one cannot help wondering whether they forgot that Mary was a +Jewess. According to the Hebrew ideal, a perfect nose was like "the +tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus" (Song of Solomon, vii. +4); but not even the ruins of that tower remain to help us to-day. The +Romans, no doubt, accepted the ideal of the Greeks aesthetically, but +their destiny had given them a very different nose, and they ruled the +world. + +Here is the nose of Julius Caesar as a coin has preserved it for us. I +think that the outline is too straight for a typical Roman, but the deep +dip under the brow and the downward point are characteristic. Now +compare the nose of another race which rules an empire greater than that +of the Caesars. Here is John Bull as _Punch_ usually represents him. It +belongs to the same genus as that of the Roman. The reason why this +should be the nose of command is not easy to give with scientific +precision, for we are dealing with the play of very subtle influences, +so the man without imagination will no doubt scoff. But I will take +shelter under Darwin. Dealing with the expression of pride he says, "A +proud man exhibits his sense of superiority by holding his head and body +erect. He is haughty _(haut),_ or high, and makes himself appear as +large as possible." Again, "The arrogant man looks down on others"; and +yet again, "In some photographs of patients affected by a monomania of +pride, sent me by Dr. Crichton-Browne, the head and body were held erect +and the mouth firmly closed. This latter action, expressive of decision, +follows, I presume, from the proud man feeling perfect self-confidence +in himself." + +Darwin says nothing about the nose, but I believe that, by physiological +sympathy, it cannot but take part in the habitual downward look upon +inferior beings. Darwin goes on to say that, "The whole expression of +pride stands in direct antithesis to that of humility"; from which it +follows, if my philosophy is sound, that the nose of Uriah Heep was +turned upwards. + +Of course, many emotions may share in the moulding of a nose, and the +whole subject is too intricate and vast to be treated briefly. I have +only given a few examples to illustrate my argument, and my conclusion +is that the key to the peculiar significance and personal quality of the +nose is to be found in its _immobility_. The eyes and lips are +incessantly in motion, we can twitch and wrinkle the cheeks and +forehead, and muscles to move the ears are there, though most men have +lost control of them. But the nose stands out like some bold promontory +on a level coast, or like the Sphinx in the Egyptian desert, with an +ancient history, no doubt, and a mystery perhaps, but without response +to any appeal. And for this very reason it is an index, not to that +which is transient in the man, but to that which is permanent. He may +knit his brows to seem thoughtful and profound, or compress his lips to +persuade his friends and himself that he has a strong will, but he can +play no trick with his nose. There it stands, an incorruptible witness, +testifying to what he is, and not only to what he is, but to the rock +whence he was hewn and to the pit whence he was digged. For his nose is +a bequest from his ancestors, an entailed estate which he cannot +alienate. + + + + +V + + +EARS + +Men and women have ears, and so have jugs and pitchers. In the latter +case they are useful: jugs and pitchers are lifted by them. And what is +useful is fit, and fitness is the first condition of beauty. But human +ears are put to no use, except sometimes when naughty little boys are +lifted by them in the way of discipline; and I can see no beauty in +them. It is only because they are so common that we do not notice how +ridiculous they are. In the days of Charles I. men sometimes had their +ears cut off for holding wrong opinions, which would have made them +famous and popular in these enlightened days, but at that time it made +all right-thinking people despise them, so the fashion of going without +ears did not spread among us. If it had, then how differently we should +all think of the matter now! If we were all accustomed to neat, round +heads at drawing-rooms, levees and balls, how repulsive it Would be to +see a well-dressed man with two ridiculous, wrinkled appendages sticking +out from the sides of his face! + +In saying this I am not drawing on my fancy, but on my memory. I can +recollect the time when no gentleman, still less any lady, would have +owned a terrier with its ears on. And why go back so far? The same +sentiment is prevalent in good society with respect to men's beards in +this year of grace and smooth faces. Yet, if one chance to be looking at +a Rembrandt instead of at society, what an infinitely handsomer adjunct +to a noble face is a fine beard than a pair of ears! + +When woman first looked at her face in a polished saucepan, she was at +once struck with the comicality of those things, and bethought herself +what to do with them. She decided to use them for pegs to hang ornaments +on. The improvement excited the admiration of her husband and the envy +of her rivals to such a degree that all other women of taste in her +tribe did the same, and from that day to this, in almost every country +in the world, it has been accounted a shame for any respectable woman to +show her face in public in the hideousness of naked ears. This discovery +of its capabilities gave a new value to the ear, and a large, roomy one +became an asset in the marriage market. I have seen a pretty little +damsel of Sind with fourteen jingling silver things hanging at regular +intervals from the outside edge of each ear. If Nature had been +niggardly, the lobe at least could be enlarged by boring it and +thrusting in a small wooden peg, then a larger one, and so on until it +could hold an ivory wheel as large as a quoit, and hung down to the +shoulders. + +But Nature surely did not intend the ear for this purpose. Then what +did she intend? A popular error is that the ears are given to hear with, +but the ears cannot hear. The hearing is done by a box of assorted +instruments (_malleus, incus, stapes_, etc.) hidden in a burrow which +has its entrance inside of the ear. If you argue that the ears are +intended to catch sounds and direct them down to the hearing instrument, +then explain their absurd shape. They are useless. A man who wants to +hear distinctly puts his hand to his ear. And why do they not turn to +meet the sounds that come from different quarters? They are absolutely +immovable, and therefore also expressionless. A savage expresses his +mind with all the rest of his face; he smiles and grins and pouts and +frowns, but his ears stand like gravestones with the inscriptions +effaced. How different is the case when you turn from man to the +"irrational" animals! The eyes of a fawn are lustrous and beautiful, but +they would be as meaningless as polished stones without the eloquent +ears that stand behind them and tell her thoughts. Curiosity, suspicion, +alarm, anger, submission, friendliness, every emotion that flits across +her quick, sensitive mind speaks through them. They are in touch with +her soul, and half the music of her life is played on them. And if you +abstract yourself from individuals and look at that thing, the ear, in +the wide field of life, what a great, living reality it is!--a spiritual +unity under infinite diversity of material form and fashion. It is like +the telegraph wire overhead, the commonest and plainest of material +things, but charged with the silent and invisible currents of the life +of the world. + +"Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore." + +[Illustration: OR PERHAPS WHEN IT WANTS TO LISTEN IT RAISES A FLIPPER TO +ITS EAR.] + +Birds have no ears, nor have crocodiles, nor frogs, nor snakes. Ears +seem to be for beasts only. And not for all beasts. Seals are divided by +naturalists into two great families--those with ears, and those without. +The common seal belongs to the latter class, and the sea-lion to the +former. A common seal lives in the sea, and when it does wriggle up on +the beach of an iceberg there is nothing to hear, I suppose, or perhaps +when it wants to listen it raises a flipper to its ear. I never saw one +doing so, but we do not see everything that happens in the world. The +sea-lion, with its stouter limbs, can lift its forepart, raise its head +and look about it, and even flop about the ice-fields at a respectable +rate. And there is no doubt that one of these is as much above an +earless seal as fifty years of Europe are better than a cycle of Cathay. +When performing seals are exhibited at a circus sitting on chairs, +catching balls on the points of their noses and playing diabolo with +them, or balancing billiard cues on their snouts, and doing other +miraculous things, they are always sea-lions, not common seals. Of +course, I do not mean to insinuate that sea-lions invented the ear and +stuck it on: that would be unscientific; but I mean that their general +intelligence and interest in affairs created that demand for more +distinct hearing which led to the development of an ear trumpet. This +view is wholly scientific, though pedants may quarrel with my way of +putting it. + +The sea-lion's ears are very minute, mere apologies one might think; but +don't be hasty. The finny prey of the sea-lion makes no sound as it +skims through the water; and perhaps the padded foot of that stealthy +garrotter, the Polar bear, makes as little on the smooth ice; for +catching the one and not being caught by the other the sea-lion must +trust to the keenness of its great goggle eyes. But it is a social +beast, and it wants to catch the bellowing of its fellows far across +the foggy waste of ice-floes; and that little leather scoop standing +behind the ear-hole seems to be just the instrument required to catch +and send down those sounds which would otherwise glance off the glossy +fur and never find entrance to the tiny orifice at all. If it were any +larger than is absolutely necessary it would be a serious impediment to +a professional diver and swimmer like the sea-lion. This is the reason +why otters have very small ears, and why whales and porpoises have none +at all. + +But when a beast lives on land the conditions are all altered, and then +the ear blossoms out into an infinite variety of forms and sizes, from +each of which the true naturalist may divine the manner of life of its +wearer as surely as the palmist tells your past, present and future from +the lines on your hand. First, he will divide all beasts into those that +pursue and those that flee, oppressors and oppressed. The former point +their ears forwards, but the latter backwards. There may be a good deal +of free play in both cases, but I am thinking of the habitual position. +When a cat is making its felonious way along the garden wall, wrapped in +thoughts of blackbirds and thrushes, its ears look straight forwards, +and this is the way in which a cat's portrait is always taken, because +it is characteristic, It cannot turn them round to catch sounds from +behind, and would scorn to do so; when accosted from behind, it turns +its head and looks danger in the face. It can fold them down backwards +when the danger is a terrier and the decks are cleared for action, but +that is another story. Contrast Brer Rabbit as he comes "lopin' up de +big road," His ears are turning every way scouting for danger, not +always in unison, but independently; but when he is at rest they are set +to alarm from the flank and rear. + +[Illustration: "TEAR OUT THE HOUSE LIKE THE DOGS WUZ ATTER HIM."] + +But when he "tear out the house like the dogs wuz atter him," then they +point straight back. He was made to be eaten, and he knows it. So it is +with the whole tribe of deer, and even with the horse, pampered and +cared for and unacquainted with danger; his ears are a weathercock +registering the drift of all his petty hopes and fears. I see the left +ear go forward and prepare for a desperate shy at that wheelbarrow. He +knows a wheelbarrow familiarly--there is one in his stall all day--but I +am taking him a road he does not want to go, and so the hypocrite is +going to pretend that barrow is of a dangerous sort. I prepare to apply +a counter-irritant: he sees it with the corner of his eye, and both ears +turn back like a tuning-fork. + +The size and quality of the ear serve to show how far the owner depends +on it. You will never begin to understand Nature until you see clearly +that every life is dominated by two supreme anxieties which push aside +all other concerns--viz., to eat, and not to be eaten. The one is +uppermost in those that pursue, and the other in those that flee. Now if +the pursuer fails he loses a dinner, but if the fugitive fails he loses +his life, from which it follows that the very best sort of ears will be +found among those beasts that do not ravage but run. + +But there is another matter to be taken into account. The ears are not +the whole of the beast's outfit. It has eyes, and it has a nose. Which +of the three it most relies on depends upon the manner of its life. A +bird lives in trees or the air, looking down at the prowling cat or up +at the hawk hovering in the clear sky; so it does not keep ears, and its +nose is of no account. But what four-footed thing can see like a bird? +The squirrel also lives in the trees, and its ears are frivolously +decorated with tufts of hair. You will not find many beasts that can +afford to prostitute their ears to ornamental purposes. The only other +beast that I can think of at this moment which has tufted ears is the +lynx. Now the lynx is a tree cat, and there is proverbial wisdom in the +saying "Eyes like a lynx." + +[Illustration: A GREAT CATHOLIC CONGRESS OF DISTINGUISHED EARS.] + +But go to the timid beasts that spend their lives on the ground among +grass and brushwood and woods and coppices, where murderous foes are +prowling unseen, and you will see ears indeed--expansive, tremulous, +turning lightly on well-oiled pivots, and catching, like large +sea-shells, the mingled murmur of rustling leaves and snapping twigs and +chirping insects and falling seeds, and the slight, occasional, abrupt, +fateful sound which is none of these. It is impossible, no doubt, for us +ever to think ourselves into the life which these beasts live--moving, +thinking and sleeping in a circumambient atmosphere of never-ceasing +sound; sitting, as it were, at the receiving station of a system of +wireless telegraphy, and catching cross-currents of floating +intelligence from all quarters, mostly undiscernible by us if we +listened for it, but which they, by long practice, instantly locate and +interpret without conscious effort. + +The zoologist classifies them under many heads. The field mouse and +rabbits are rodentia, the deer ungulata, the kangaroos marsupialia. In +my museum they are all one family, and their labels are their ears. In +these days of international conferences, parliaments of religion, +pan-everything-in-turn councils, might we not arrange for a great +catholic congress of distinguished ears? What a glow of new life it +would shed upon our straitened, traditional ways of thinking about the +social problems of our humble fellow-creatures! I would exclude the +eared owls, whose ears are a mere sport of fashion, like the hideous +imitations of birds' wings which ladies stick on their hats. + +But just when this peep into the rare show of Nature is lifting my soul +into sublimity, I am brought down to the base earth again by an +exception. This is the plague of all high science. You design a stately +theory, collect from many quarters a wealth of facts to establish it +with, and have arranged them with cumulative and irresistible force, +when some disgusting, uninvited case thrusts itself in on your notice +and refuses to fit into your argument at all. In this instance it is +"my lord the elephant." That he has no need to concern himself about any +bloodthirsty beast that may be lurking in the jungle is not more obvious +than that his ears are the biggest in the world. Now there are two ways +of getting rid of an obstruction of this kind. One is to betake yourself +to your thinking chair and pipe and to rake up the possibilities of the +Pleiocene and Meiocene ages, and prove that when the immense ear of the +elephant was evolved there must have been some carnivorous monster, some +sabre-toothed tiger or cave bear, which preyed on elephants. + +The other way is to get acquainted with the elephant, cultivate an +intimacy with him, and find out what his ears are to him. I prefer the +second way. I would patiently watch him as he stands drowsily under an +umbrageous banian tree on a sultry day before the monsoon has burst and +refreshed earth and air. So might I note that his ears are incessantly +moving, but not turning this way and that to catch sounds--just +flapping, flapping, as if to cool his great temples. So have I seen the +gigantic fruit bats, called flying foxes in India, hanging in hundreds +in the upper branches of a tall peepul tree at noon, feeling too hot to +sleep, and all fanning themselves in unison with one wing--a comic +spectacle. And at each flap of the elephant's ears I would observe that +a cloud of flies (for the elephant is not too great to be pestered by +the despicable hordes of beggars for blood) were dislodged from their +feeding grounds about his head and neck, and, trying to settle about his +rear parts, were driven back again by the swinging of his tail. Then I +should say that ear is just a fan. How significant it is that among the +emblems of royalty in the East the three chiefest are an +umbrella-bearer, two men who stand behind and swing great punkahs +modelled on the elephant's ear, and two others carrying yak's tails +wherewith to scare the flies from the royal person! The elephant is a +rajah! + +There is another mysterious ear which is a stumbling-block to the simple +theory-monger. It is in fashion among a tribe of bats to which belongs +the so-called vampire of India. This monster is fond of coming into your +bedroom at midnight through the open windows, but not to suck your +blood, for it has little in common with the true vampire of South +America. It brings its dinner with it and hangs from the ceiling, +"feeding like horses when you hear them feed." You hear its jaws +working--crunch, crunch, crunch, but feel too drowsy to get up and expel +it. + +When you get up in the morning there on your clean dressing table, just +below the place where it hung, are the bloody remains of a sparrow, or +the crumbs of a tree-frog. The servants will tell you that the sparrow +was killed and eaten by a rat, but if you rise softly next night when +you hear the sound of feeding, and shut the windows, you will find a +goblin hanging from the ceiling in the morning, hideous beyond the +power of words to tell. Its ears, thin, membranous and longer than its +head, tremble incessantly. Inside of them is another pair, much smaller +than the first, and tuned to their octave, I should guess, while two +membranous smelling trumpets of similar pattern rise over the nose. What +is the meaning of these repulsive instruments, and how does that strange +beast catch sparrows? When it comes out after dark and quarters the +garden, passing swiftly under and through the branches of trees, they +are sound asleep hidden among the leaves, motionless and silent. But +their flesh may be scented, and their gentle breathing heard if you have +instruments sufficiently delicate. Then the ample wings may suddenly +enfold the sleeping body, and the savage jaws grip the startled head +before there is time even to scream. Without a doubt this is the secret +of the vampire bat's ears. + +But to find food and flee death are not the only interests in life even +to the meanest creature. There are social pleasures, family affections +and fellowship, sympathy and co-operation in the struggles of life. And +there is love. + + Omne adeo genus in terris hominumque ferarumque, + Et genus aequoreum, pecudes, pictaeque volucres, + In furias ignemque ruunt: amor omnibus idem. + +The chirping of the cricket, the song of the lark, the call of the +sentinel crane, the watchword with which the migratory geese keep their +squadrons together, the howling of jackals, the lowing of cows, the hum +of the hive, the chatter of the drawing-room, and a hundred other voices +in forest and field and town remind us that the voice and the ear are +the pair of wheels on which society runs. + +And this thought points the way out of another contradictious puzzle, +that which confronts my argument from the ears of an ass. It roams +treeless deserts where no foe can approach unseen. Thistles make no +sound. Why should it be adorned with ears which in their amplitude are +scarcely surpassed by those of the rabbit and the hare. There is no +answer unless their function is to hear the bray of a fellow-ass.... One +may object that that majestic sound is surely of force to impress itself +without any aid from an external ear; but that is a vain argument built +on the costermonger's moke--dreary exile from its fatherland. Remember +that its ancestors wandered on the steppes of Central Asia or the +borders of the Sahara. In those boundless solitudes, with nothing that +eye can see or that common ear can hear to remind her that she is not +the sole inhabitant of the universe, the wild ass "snuffeth up the wind +in her desire," and lifting her windsails to the hot blast, hears, borne +across miles of white sand and shimmering mirage, the joyful +reverberations of that music which tells of old comrades and boon +companions scouring the plain and kicking up their exultant heels. + +Monkeys taking to trees were like the birds, they scarcely needed ears. +And so by the high road of evolution you arrive at man and the enigma of +his ear. It is a shrunken and shrivelled remnant, a moss-grown ruin, a +derelict ship. It is to a pattern ear what the old shoe which you find +in a country lane, shed from the foot of some "unemployed," is to one of +Waukenphast's "five-miles-an-hour-easy" boots. We ought to temper our +contempt for what it is with respect for what it was. All the parts of +it are there and recognisable, even to the muscles that should move it, +but we have lost control of them. I believe anyone could regain that by +persevering exercise of his will power for a time--that is, if he has +any. I have a friend who, if you treat him with disrespect, shrivels you +up with a sarcastic wag of his right ear. + +The ears of dogs open up another vista for the questioning philosopher. +Their day is past, too, and man may cut them short to match his own, but +the dog grows them longer than before. When he first took service with +man, and grew careless and lazy, the muscles got slack and the ears +dropped, which is in accordance with Nature. Then, instead of being +allowed to wither away, they have been handed over to the milliner and +shaped and trimmed in harmony with the "style" of each breed of dogs. +How it has been done is one of those mysteries which will not open to +the iron keys of Darwin, But there it is for those to see who have eyes. + +[Illustration: THE CURLS OF A MOTHER'S DARLING.] + +The ears of the little dogs bred for ladies' laps are the curls of a +mother's darling; the pendant love-locks of the old, old maid who, +despite of changeful fashions, clings to those memorials of the pensive +beauty of her youth, are repeated in solemn mimicry by the dachshund +trotting at her heels; but the sensible fur cap of the dignified +Newfoundland reminds us of the cold regions from which his forefathers +came. Some kinds of terriers still have their ears starched up to look +perky, and I have occasionally seen a dog with one ear up and the other +down as if straining after the elusive idea expressed in the +Baden-Powell hat. All which shows that "one touch of nature makes the +whole world kin." + + + + +VI + + +TOMMY + +THE STORY OF AN OWL + +Among the many and various strangers within my gates who have helped to +enliven the days of my exile, Tommy was one towards whom I still feel a +certain sense of obligation because he taught me for the first time what +an owl is. For Tommy was an owl. From any dictionary you may ascertain +that an owl is a nocturnal, carnivorous bird, of a short, stout form, +with downy feathers and a large head; and if that does not satisfy you, +there is no lack of books which will furnish fuller and more precise +descriptions. + +But descriptions cannot impart acquaintance. I had sought acquaintance +and had gained some knowledge such as books cannot supply, not only of +owls in general, but of that particular species of owls to which Tommy +belonged, who, in the heraldry of ornithology, was _Carine brahma_, an +Indian spotted owlet. This branch of the ancient family of owls has +always been eccentric. It does not mope and to the moon complain. It +flouts the moon and the sun and everyone who passes by, showing its +round face at its door and even coming out, at odd times of the day, to +stare and bob and play the clown. It does not cry "Tuwhoo, Tuwhoo," as +the poets would have it, but laughs, jabbers, squeaks and chants +clamorous duets with its spouse. + +All this I knew. I had also gathered from his public appearances that a +spotted owlet is happy in his domestic life and that he is fond of fat +white ants, for, when their winged swarms were flying, I had seen him +making short flights from his perch in a tree and catching them with his +feet; and I believed that he fed in secret on mice and lizards. But all +that did not amount to understanding an owl, as I discovered when Tommy +became a member of our chummery. + +Tommy was born in "the second city of the British Empire," to wit, +Bombay, in the month of March, 1901. His birthplace was a hole in an old +"Coral" tree. Domestic life in that hole was not conducted with +regularity. Meals were at uncertain hours and uncertain also in their +quantity and quality. The parents were hunters and were absent for long +periods, and though there was incredible shouting and laughter when they +returned, they came at such irregular times that we did not suspect that +they were permanent residents and had a family. One night, however, +Tommy, being precocious and, as we discovered afterwards, keen on seeing +life, took advantage of parental absence to clamber to the entrance of +the nursery and, losing his balance, toppled over into the garden. He +kept cool, however, and tried to conceal himself, but Hurree the malee, +watering the plants early in the morning, spied him lying with his face +on the earth and brought him to us. + +He seemed dead, but he was very much alive, as appeared when he was made +to sit up and turned those wonderful eyes of his upon us. He was a droll +little object at that time, nearly globular in form and covered with +down, like a toy for children to play with. His head turned like a +revolving lighthouse and flared those eyes upon you wherever you went, +great luminous orbs, black-centred and gold-ringed and full of silent +wonder, or, I should rather say, surprise. This never left him. To the +last everything that presented itself to his gaze, though he had seen it +a hundred times, seemed to fill him with fresh surprise. Nothing ever +became familiar. What an enviable cast of mind! It must make the +brightness of childhood perennial. + +There was some discussion as to how Tommy should be fed, and we finally +decided that one should try to open the small hooked beak, whose point +could just be detected protruding from a nest of fluff, while another +held a piece of raw meat ready to pop in. It did not look an easy job, +but we had scarcely set about it when Tommy himself solved the +difficulty by plucking the meat out of our fingers and swallowing it. +This early intimation that, however absent he might look, he was "all +there" was never belied, and there was no further difficulty about the +feeding of him. When he saw us coming he always fell into the same +ridiculous attitude, with his face in the dust, but we just picked him +up and stood him on his proper end and showed him the meat and his +bashfulness vanished at once. + +After sunset he would get lively and begin calling for his mother in a +strange husky voice. At this time we would let him out in the garden, +watching him closely, for, if he thought he was alone, he would sneak +away slyly, then make a run for liberty, hobbling along at a good rate +with the aid of his wings, though he never attempted to fly as yet. When +detected and overtaken, he fell on his face as before. One memorable day +he found a hole in a stone wall and, before we could stop him, he was +in. The hole was too small to admit a hand, though not a rat or a snake, +so the prospect was gloomy. Suddenly a happy inspiration came to me. +That sad, husky cry with which he expressed his need of a mother was not +difficult to mimic, and he might be cheated into thinking that a lost +brother or sister was looking for him. I retired and made the attempt, +and, hark! a faint echo came from the wall. At each repetition it became +clearer, until the round face and great eyes appeared at the mouth of +the hole. Then the round body tumbled out, and little Tommy was hobbling +about, looking, with pathetic eagerness, for "the old familiar faces." +When he discovered how he had been betrayed, his face went down and he +suffered himself to be carried quietly to the canary's cage in which he +was kept. + +It seemed to be time now to begin Tommy's education, for I judged that, +if he had been at home, he would ere then have been getting nightly +lessons in the poacher's art. So I procured a small gecko, one of those +grey house lizards, with pellets at the ends of their toes, which come +down from the roof after the lamps are lit and gorge themselves on the +foolish moths and plant bugs that come to the light. Securing it with a +thin cord tied round its waist, I introduced it into Tommy's cage. He +looked surprised, very much surprised. He raised himself to his full +height. He gazed at it. He curtseyed. He gave a little jump and was +standing with both feet on the lizard. A moment more and the lizard was +gliding down his throat with my thin cord after it. Mr. Seton Thompson +would have us believe that all young things are laboriously trained by +their parents, just like human children, and if he was an eye-witness of +all the scenes that he describes so vividly, it must be so with other +young things. But he did not know Tommy, who is the bird of Minerva and +evidently sprang into being, like his patron goddess, with all his +armour on. + +After a time, when he had exchanged his infant down for a suit of +feathers, he was promoted to a large cage out in the garden, and his +regular diet was a little raw meat or a mutton bone tied to one of his +perches, but, by way of a treat, I would offer him, whenever I could get +it, a locust, or large grasshopper. His way of accepting this was unique +and pretty. He would look surprised, stare, curtsey once or twice, stare +again and then, suddenly, noiselessly and as lightly as a fairy, flit +across the cage and, without alighting, pluck the insect from my fingers +with both his feet and return to his perch. + +Why he bowed to his food and to everybody and everything that presented +itself before him was a riddle that I never solved. A materialistic +friend suggested that he was adjusting the focus of his wonderful eyes, +and the action was certainly like that of an optician examining a lens; +but I feel that there was something more ceremonial about it. This +punctiliousness cost him his dinner once. I was curious to know what he +would do with a mouse, so, having caught one alive, I slipped it quietly +into his cage. He was more surprised than ever before, raised himself +erect, bowed to the earth once, twice and three times, stared, bowed +again and so on until, to his evident astonishment and chagrin, the +mouse found an opening and was gone. The lesson was not lost. A few days +later I got another mouse, to which he began to do obeisance as before, +but very soon and suddenly, though as softly as falling snow, he plumped +upon it with both feet and, spreading his wings on the ground, looked +all round him with infinite satisfaction. The mouse squeaked, but he +stopped that by cracking its skull quietly with his beak. Then he +gathered himself up and flew to the perch with his prize. + +One thing I noted about Tommy most emphatically. He never showed a sign +of affection, or what is called attachment. He maintained a strictly +bowing acquaintance with me. He was not afraid, but he would suffer no +familiarity. He would come and eat, with due ceremony, out of my hand, +but if I offered to touch him he was surprised and affronted and went +off at once. When I moved to another house I found that I could not +continue to keep him, so I sent him to the zoological garden, where I +visited him sometimes, but he never vouchsafed a token of recognition. +His heart was locked except to his own kin. + +But since that time, when I have seen an owl, even a barn owl, or a +great horned owl, swiftly cross the sky in the darkness of night, I have +felt that I could accompany it, in imagination, on its secret quest. It +will arrive silently, like the angel of death, in a tree overlooking a +field in which a rat, whose hour has come, is furtively feeding, all +alert and tremulous, but unaware of any impending danger. The rat will +go on feeding, unconscious of the mocking curtsey and the baleful eyes +that follow with mute attention its every motion, until the hand of the +clock has moved to the point assigned by fate, and then it will feel +eight sharp talons plunged into its flesh. I have seen the fierce dash +of the sparrow hawk into a crowd of unsuspecting sparrows, I know the +triumph of the falcon as it rises for the final, fatal swoop on the +flying duck, and I have watched the kestrel, high in air, scanning the +field for some rash mouse or lizard that has wandered too far from +shelter. The owl is also a bird of prey, but its idea is different from +all these. + + + + +VII + + +THE BARN OWL + +A FRIEND OF MAN + +A thunderstorm has burst on the common rat. Its complicity in the spread +of the plague, which has been proved up to the hilt, has filled the cup +of its iniquities to overflowing, and we have awakened to the fact that +it is and always has been an arch-enemy of mankind. Simultaneously, in +widely separated parts of the world, a "pogrom" has been proclaimed, and +the accounts of the massacre which come to us from great cities like +Calcutta and Bombay are appalling and almost incredible. They would move +to pity the most callous heart, if pity could be associated with the +rat. But it cannot. + +The wild rat deserves that humane consideration to which all our natural +fellow-creatures on this earth are entitled; but the domestic rat (I use +this term advisedly, for though man has not domesticated it, it has +thoroughly domesticated itself) cannot justify its existence. It is a +fungus of civilisation. If it confined itself to its natural food, the +farmer's grain, the tax which it levies on the country would still be +such as no free people ought to endure. But it confines itself to +nothing. As Waterton says: "After dining on carrion in the filthiest +sink, it will often manage to sup on the choicest dainties of the +larder, where like Celoeno of old _vestigia foeda relinquit_." It kills +chickens, plunders the nests of little birds, devouring mother, eggs and +young, murders and feeds on its brothers and sisters and even its own +offspring, and not infrequently tastes even man when it finds him +asleep. The bite of a rat is sometimes very poisonous, and I have had to +give three months' sick leave to a clerk who had been bitten by one. Add +to this that the rat multiplies at a rate which is simply criminal, +rearing a family of perhaps a dozen every two or three months, and no +further argument is needed to justify the war which has been declared +against it. Every engine of war will, no doubt, be brought into use, +traps of many kinds, poisons, cats, the professional rat-catcher, and a +rat bacillus which, if once it gets a footing, is expected to originate +a fearful epidemic. + +But I need not linger any more among rats, which are not my subject. I +am writing in the hope that this may be an opportune time to put in a +plea for a much persecuted native of this and many other countries, +whose principal function in the economy of nature is to kill rats and +mice. The barn, or screech, owl, which is found over a great part of +Europe and Asia and also in America, was once very common in Britain, +inhabiting every "ivy-mantled tower," church steeple, barn loft, hollow +tree, or dovecot, in which it could get a lodging. But it was never +welcome. Like the Jews in the days of King John it has been relentlessly +persecuted by superstition, ignorance and avarice. Avarice, instigated +by ladies and milliners, has looked with covetous eye on its downy and +beautiful plumes; while ignorance and superstition have feared and hated +the owl in all countries and all ages. In ancient Rome it was a bird of +evil omen. + + Foedaque fit volucris venturi nuncia luctus, + Ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen. + +In India, to-day, if an owl sits on the house-top, the occupants dare +scarcely lie down to sleep, for they know that the devil is walking the +rooms and marking someone for death. Lady Macbeth, when about the murder +of Duncan, starts and whispers, + + Hark! Peace! It was the owl that shrieked, + The fatal bellman. + +And even as late as the nineteenth century, Waterton's aged housekeeper +"knew full well what sorrow it had brought into other houses when she +was a young woman," Witches, like modern ladies of fashion, set great +value on its wings. The latter stick them on their hats, the witches in +Macbeth threw them into their boiling cauldron. Horace's Canidia could +not complete her recipe without + + "Plumamque nocturnae strigis." + +We may suppose that in Britain these superstitions are gone for ever, +killed and buried by board schools and compulsory education. If they are +(there is room for an _if_) they have been succeeded by a worse, the +superstition of gamekeepers and farmers. It is worse in effect, because +these men have guns, which their predecessors had not. And it is more +wicked, because it is founded on an ignorance for which there is no +excuse. How little harm the barn owl is likely to do game may be +inferred from the fact that, when it makes its lodging in a dovecot, the +pigeons suffer no concern! Waterton (and no better authority could be +quoted) scouts the idea, common among farmers, that its business there +is to eat the pigeons' eggs. "They lay the saddle," he says, "on the +wrong horse. They ought to put it on the rat." His predecessor in the +estate had allowed the owls to be destroyed and the rats to multiply, +and there were few young pigeons in the dovecot. Waterton took strong +measures to exterminate the rats, but built breeding places for the +owls, and the dovecot, which they constantly frequented, became prolific +again. + +But granting that the owls did twice the injury to game with which they +are credited, it would be repaid many times over by their services. +Waterton well says that, if we knew its utility in thinning the country +of mice, it would be with us what the ibis was with the Egyptians--a +sacred bird. He examined the pellets ejected by a pair of owls that +occupied a ruined gateway on the estate. Every pellet contained +skeletons of from four to seven mice. Owls, it may be necessary to +explain, swallow their food without separating flesh from bone, skin and +hair, and afterwards disgorge the indigestible portions rolled up into +little balls. In sixteen months the pair of owls above-mentioned had +accumulated a deposit of more than a bushel of these pellets, each a +funeral urn of from four to seven mice! In the old Portuguese fort of +Bassein in Western India I noticed that the earth at the foot of a +ruined tower was plentifully mixed with small skulls, jaws and other +bones. Taking home a handful and examining them, I found that they were +the remains of rats, mice and muskrats. + +The owl kills small birds, large insects, frogs and even fishes, but +these are extras: its profession is rat-catching and mousing, and only +those who have a very intimate personal acquaintance with it know how +peculiarly its equipment and methods are adapted to this work. The +falcon gives open chase to the wild duck, keeping above it if possible +until near enough for a last spurt; then it comes down at a speed which +is terrific, and, striking the duck from above, dashes it to the ground. +The sparrow hawk plunges unexpectedly into a group of little birds and +nips up one with a long outstretched foot before they have time to get +clear of each other. The harrier skims over field, copse and meadow, +suddenly rounding corners and topping fences and surprising small +birds, or mice, on which it drops before they have recovered from their +surprise. + +The owl does none of these things. For one thing, it hunts in the night, +when its sight is keenest and rats are abroad feeding. Its flight is +almost noiseless and yet marvellously light and rapid when it pleases. +Sailing over field, lane and hedgerow and examining the ground as it +goes, it finds a likely place and takes a post of observation on a fence +perhaps, or a sheaf of corn. Here it sits, bolt upright, all eyes. It +sees a rat emerge from the grass and advance slowly, as it feeds, into +open ground. There is no hurry, for the doom of that rat is already +fixed. So the owl just sits and watches till the right moment has +arrived; then it flits swiftly, softly, silently, across the intervening +space and drops like a flake of snow. Without warning, or suspicion of +danger, the rat feels eight sharp claws buried in its flesh. It protests +with frantic squeals, but these are stopped with a nip that crunches its +skull, and the owl is away with it to the old tower, where the hungry +children are calling, with weird, impatient hisses, for something to +eat. + +The owl does not hunt the fields and hedgerows only. It goes to all +places where rats or mice may be, reconnoitres farmyards, barns and +dwelling houses and boldly enters open windows. Sometimes it hovers in +the air, like a kestrel, scanning the ground below. And though its +regular hunting hours are from dusk till dawn, it has been seen at work +as late as nine or ten on a bright summer morning. But the vulgar boys +of bird society are fond of mobbing it when it appears abroad by day, +and it dislikes publicity. + +The barn owl lays its eggs in the places which it inhabits. There is +usually a thick bed of pellets on the floor, and it considers no other +nest needful. The eggs are said to be laid in pairs. There may be two, +four, or six, of different eggs, in the nest, and perhaps a young one, +or two, at the same time. Eggs are found from April, or even March, till +June or July, and there is, sometimes at any rate, a second brood as +late as November or December. This owl does not hoot, but screeches. A +weird and ghostly voice it is, from which, according to Ovid, the bird +has its Latin name, Strix (pronounced "Streex," probably, at that time). + + Est illis strigibus nomen, sed nominis hujus. + Causa, quod horrenda stridere nocte silent. + +It is a sound which, coming suddenly out of the darkness, might well +start fears and forebodings in the dark and guilty mind of untutored +man, which would not be dispelled by a nearer view of the strange object +from which they proceeded. White, ghostly, upright, spindle-shaped and +biggest at the top, where two great orbs flare, like fiery bull's-eyes, +from the centres of two round white targets, it stands solemn and +speechless; you approach nearer and it falls into fearsome pantomimic +attitudes and grimaces, like a clown trying to frighten a child. And now +a new horror has been added to the barn owl. The numerous letters which +appeared in _The Times_ and were summarised, with comments, by Sir T. +Digby Pigott, C.B., in _The Contemporary Review_ of July 1908, leave no +reasonable room for doubt that this bird sometimes becomes brightly +luminous, and is the will-o'-the-wisp for believing in which we are +deriding our forefathers. All things considered, I cannot withhold my +sympathy and some respect for the superstition of aged housekeepers, +Romans and Indians. For that of gamekeepers and farmers I have neither. +All our new schemes of "Nature study" will surely deserve the reproach +of futility if, in the next generation, every farmhouse in England has +not its own Owl Tower for the encouragement of this friend of man. + + + + +VIII + + +DOMESTIC ANIMALS + +Long before Jubal became the father of all such as handle the harp and +the organ and Tubalcain the instructor of every artificer in brass and +iron, Abel was a keeper of sheep, but the sacred writer has not informed +us how he first caught them and tamed them. If we consult other records +of the infancy of the human race, they reveal as little. When the +Egyptians began to portray their daily life on stone 6,000 or 7,000 +years ago, they already had cattle and sheep, geese and ducks and dogs +and plenty of asses, though not horses. They got these from the +Assyrians, who had used them in their chariots long before they began to +record anything. + +Further back than this we have no one to question except those shadowy +men of the Stone Age who have left us heaps of their implements, but +none of their bones. They were not so careful of the bones of horses, +which lie in thousands about the precincts of their untidy villages, but +not a scrawl on a bit of a mammoth tusk has been found to indicate +whether these were ridden and driven, or only hunted and eaten. + +Why should it be recorded that Cadmus invented letters? Why should we +inquire who first made gunpowder and glass? Why should every schoolboy +be taught that Watt was the inventor of the steam engine? Can any of +these be put in the scale, as benefactors of our race, with the man who +first trained a horse to carry him on its back, or drew milk with his +hands from the udders of a cow? The familiarity of the thing has made us +callous to the wonder of it. Let us put it before us, like a painting or +a statue, and have a good look at it. + +There is a farmhouse, any common farmhouse, just one of the molecules +that constitute the mass of our wholesome country life. A horse is being +harnessed for the plough: its ancestors sniffed the wind on the steppes +of Tartary. Meek cows are standing to be milked: when primitive man +first knew them in their native forests he used to give them a wide +berth, for his flint arrows fell harmless off their tough hides, and +they were fierce exceedingly. A cock is crowing on the fence as if the +whole farm belonged to himself: he ought to be skulking in an Indian +jungle. The sheep have no business here; their place is on the rocky +mountains of Asia. As for the dog, it is difficult to assign it a +country, for it owns no wild kindred in any part of the world, but it +ought at least to be worrying the sheep. If there is an ass, it is a +native of Abyssinia, and the Turkeys are Americans. The cat derives its +descent from an Egyptian. + +But all these are of one country now and of one religion. They know no +home nor desire any, except the farmhouse, in which they were born and +bred, and the lord of it is their lord, to whom they look for food and +protection. And what would he do without them? What should we do without +them? It is impossible to conceive that life could be carried on if we +were deprived of these obedient and uncomplaining servants. High +civilisation has been attained without steam engines; education, as we +use the term now, is superfluous--Runjeet Singh, the Lion of the Punjab, +could neither read nor write; the human race has prospered and +multiplied without the knowledge of iron; but we know of no time when +man did without domestic animals. + +It is vain to speculate how the thing first came about, whether the +sportive anthropoid ape took to riding on a wild goat before he emerged +as a man keeping flocks, or whether some great pioneer, destined to be +worshipped in after ages as a demigod, showed his fellows how the wild +calves, if taken young, might be trained into tractable slaves; and it +is hopeless to expect that any record will now leap to light which will +give us knowledge in place of speculation. But it might not be +unprofitable to seek for some clue to the strange selection which the +domesticating genius of man has made from among the multifarious +material presented to it by the animal kingdom. If we do so we shall +almost be forced to the conclusion that domesticability is a character, +or quality, inherent in some animals and entirely wanting in others. + +Let us begin with pigeons, a very large group, but one that shows more +unity than any of the other Orders into which naturalists divide birds. +It embraces turtle doves of many species, wood pigeons, ground pigeons, +fruit pigeons and some strange forms like the great crowned pigeon of +Victoria. Of all these only one, the common blue rock, has been +domesticated. The ring dove of Asia has been kept as a cage bird for so +long that a permanent albino and also a fawn-coloured variety have been +established and are more common in aviaries than birds of the natural +colour; but the ring dove has not become a domestic fowl, and never +will. In this instance there is a plausible explanation, for the blue +rock, unlike the rest of the tribe, nests and roosts in holes and is +also gregarious; therefore, if provided with accommodation of the kind +it requires, it will form a permanent settlement and remain with us on +the same terms as the honey bee; while the ring dove, not caring for a +fixed home, must be confined, however tame it may become, or it will +wander and be lost. + +But this explanation will not fit other cases. What a multitude of wild +ducks there are in Scotland and every other country, mallards, pintails, +gadwalls, widgeons, pochards and teals, all very much alike in their +habits and tastes! But of them all only one species, and that a +migratory one, the mallard, has been persuaded to abandon its wandering +ways and settle down to a life of ease and obesity as a dependant of +man. In India there is a duck of the same genus as the mallard, known as +the spotted-billed duck (_Anas poecilorhynchus_), which is as large as +the mallard and quite as tasty, and is, moreover, not migratory, but +remains and breeds in the country. But it has not been domesticated: the +tame ducks in India, as here, are all mallards. The muscovy duck is a +distinct species which has been domesticated elsewhere and introduced. + +From the ducks let us turn to the hens. The partridge, grouse and +pheasant are all dainty birds, but if we desire to eat them we must +shoot them, or (_proh pudor!_) snare them. Plover's eggs are worth four +shillings a dozen, but we must seek them on the moors. The birds that +have covenanted to accept our food and protection and lay their eggs for +our use and rear their young for us to kill are descended from _Gallus +bankivus_, the jungle fowl of Eastern India. How they came here history +records not: perhaps the gipsies brought them. They appear now in +strange and diverse guise, the ponderous and feather-legged +Cochin-China, the clean-limbed and wiry game, the crested Houdan, the +Minorca with its monstrous comb, and the puny bantam. In Japan there is +a breed that carries a tail seven or eight feet in length, which has to +be "done" regularly like a lady's hair, to keep it from dirt and damage. + +But however their outward aspects may differ, they are of the same +blood and know it. A featherweight bantam cock will stand up to an +elephantine brahma and fight him according to the rules of the ring and +next minute pay compliments to his lady in language which she will be at +no loss to understand. And if the artificial conditions of their life +were removed, they would soon all lapse alike to the image of the stock +from which they are sprung. This is well illustrated in a show case in +the South Kensington Museum exhibiting a group of fowls from Pitcairn's +Island. These are descended from some stock landed by the mutinous crew +of H.M.S. _Bounty_ in 1790, which ran wild, and in a century they have +gone back to the small size and lithe figure and almost to the game +colour of the wild birds from which they branched off before history +dawned. + +If we turn next to the Ruminants, the clean beasts which chew the cud +and divide the hoof, the puzzle becomes harder still. Deer and antelopes +are often kept as pets, and become so tame that they are allowed to +wander at liberty. In Egypt herds of gazelles were so kept before the +days of Cheops. In India I have known a black buck which regularly +attended the station cricket ground, moving among the nervous players +with its nose in the air and insolence in its gait, fully aware that +eighteen-inch horns with very sharp points insured respectful treatment. +Mr. Sterndale trained a Neilghai to go in harness. The great bovine +antelopes of Africa would become as tame, and there is no reason to +suppose that their beef and milk would not be as good as those of the +cow. But no antelope or deer appears ever to have been domesticated, +with the exception of the reindeer. + +Of the other ruminants the ox, buffalo, yak, goat, sheep and a few +others are domestic animals, while the bison and the gaur, or so-called +Indian bison, and a large number of wild goats and sheep have been +neglected. The buffalo and yak have probably come under the yoke in +comparatively recent times, for they are little changed; but the goat +and still more the sheep have undergone a wonderful transformation +within and without. Who could recognise in a Leicester ewe the wary +denizen of precipitous mountains which will not feed until it has set a +sentinel to give warning if danger approaches? And here is a curious +fact which has scarcely been noticed by naturalists. + +The original of our goat is supposed to be the Persian ibex. At any +rate, it was an ibex of some species, as its horns plainly show. But on +the plains of Northern India, under ranges of hills on which the Persian +ibex wanders wild, the common domestic goat is a very different animal +from that of Europe, and has peculiar spiral horns of the same pattern +as the markhor, another grand species of wild goat which draws eager +hunters to the higher reaches of the same mountains. From this it would +appear that two species of wild goat have been domesticated and kept to +some extent distinct, one eventually finding its way westward, but not +eastward and southward. + +The Indian humped cattle also differ so widely in form, structure and +voice from those of Europe that there can scarcely be a doubt of their +descent from distinct species. But both have entirely disappeared as +wild animals, unless indeed the white cattle of Chillingham are really +descendants of Caesar's dreadful urus and not merely domestic cattle +lapsed into savagery. So have the camel, and, with a similar possible +exception, the horse. Was the whole race in each of these cases +subjugated, or exterminated, and that by uncivilised man with his +primitive weapons? There is no analogy here with the extinction of such +animals as the mammoth, for the ox is a beast in every way fitted to +live and thrive in the present condition of this world, as much so as +the buffalo and the Indian bison, which show no sign of approaching +extinction. Our fathers easily got rid of the difficulty by assuming +that Noah never released these species after the Flood, but what shall +those do who cannot believe in the literality of Noah's ark? + +As for the dog, its domestication has been the creation of a new +species. The material was perhaps the wolf, more likely the jackal, but +possibly a blend of more than one species. But a dog is now a dog and +neither a wolf nor a jackal. A mastiff, a pug, a collie, a greyhound, a +pariah all recognise each other and observe the same rules of etiquette +when they meet. + +We must admit, however, that, whatever pliability of disposition, or +other inherent suitability, led to the first domestication of certain +species of animals, the changes induced in their natures by many +generations of domesticity have made them amenable to man's control to a +degree which puts a wide difference between them and their wild +relations. A wild ass, though brought up from its birth in a stable, +would make a very intractable costermonger's moke. We may infer from +this that the first subjugation of each of our common domestic animals +was the achievement of some genius, or of some tribe favourably +situated, and that they spread from that centre by sale or barter, +rather than that they were separately domesticated in many places. This +would partly explain why a few species of widely different families are +so universally kept in all countries to the exclusion of hundreds of +species nearly allied and apparently as suitable. When a want could be +supplied by obtaining from another country an animal bred to live with +man and serve him, the long and difficult task of softening down the +wild instincts of a beast taken from the forests or the hills and +acclimatising its constitution to a domestic life was not likely to be +attempted. + +But there have been a few recent additions to our list of domestic +animals. The turkey and the guinea fowl are examples, and perhaps +within another generation we may be able to add the zebra. And there may +be many other animals fitted to enrich and adorn human life which would +make no insuperable resistance to domestication if wisely and patiently +handled. Here is a noble opening for carrying out in its kindest sense +the command, "Multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have +dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and +over every living thing that moveth upon the face of the earth." + + + + +IX + + +SNAKES + +I have met persons, otherwise quite sane, who told me that they would +like to visit India if it were not for the _snakes_. Now there is +something very depressing in the thought that this state of mind is +extant in England, for it is calculated, on occasion, to have results of +a most melancholy nature. By way of example, let us picture the case of +a broken-hearted maiden forced to reject an ardent lover because duty +calls him to a land where there are snakes. Think of his happiness +blighted for ever and her doomed to a "perpetual maidenhood," harrowed +with remorseful dreams of the hourly perils and horrors through which he +must be passing without her, and dreading to enter an academy or +picture-gallery lest a laocoon or a fury might revive apprehensions too +horrible to be borne. In view of possibilities so dreadful, surely it is +a duty that a man owes to his kind to disseminate the truth, if he can, +about the present condition in the East of that reptile which, crawling +on its belly and eating dust and having its head bruised by the +descendants of Eve, sometimes pays off her share of the curse on their +heels. Here the truth is. + +Within the limits of our Indian Empire, including Burmah and Ceylon, +there are at present known to naturalists two hundred and sixty-four +species of snakes. Twenty-seven of these are sea-serpents, which never +leave the sea, and could not if they would. The remaining two hundred +and thirty-seven species comprise samples of every size and pattern of +limbless reptile found on this globe, from the gigantic python, which +crushes a jackal and swallows it whole, to the little burrowing +_Typhlops_, whose proportions are those of an earthworm and its food +white ants. + +If you have made up your mind never to touch a snake or go nearer to one +than you can help, then I need scarcely tell you what you know already, +that these are all alike hideous and repulsive in their aspect, being +smeared from head to tail with a viscous and venomous slime, which, as +your Shakespeare will tell you, leaves a trail even on fig-leaves when +they have occasion to pass over such. This preparation would appear to +line them inside as well as out, for there is no lack of ancient and +modern testimony to the fact that they "slaver" their prey all over +before swallowing it, that it may slide the more easily down their +ghastly throats. Their eye is cruel and stony, and possesses a peculiar +property known as "fascination," which places their victims entirely at +their mercy. They have also the power of coiling themselves up like a +watch-spring and discharging themselves from a considerable distance at +those whom they have doomed to death--a fact which is attested by such +passages in the poets as-- + + Like adder darting from his coil, + +and by travellers _passim_. + +This is the true faith with respect to all serpents, and if you are +resolved to remain steadfast in it, you may do so even in India, for it +is possible to live in that country for months, I might almost say +years, without ever getting a sight of a live snake except in the basket +of a snake-charmer. If, however, you are minded to cultivate an +acquaintance with them, it is not difficult to find opportunities of +doing so, but I must warn you that it will be with jeopardy to your +faith, for the very first thing that will strike you about them will +probably be their cleanness. What has become of the classical slime I +cannot tell, but it is a fact that the skin of a modern snake is always +delightfully dry and clean, and as smooth to the touch as velvet. + +The next thing that attracts attention is their beauty, not so much the +beauty of their colours as of their forms. With few exceptions, snakes +are the most graceful of living things. Every position into which they +put themselves, and every motion of their perfectly proportioned forms, +is artistic. The effect of this is enhanced by their gentleness and the +softness of their movements. + +But if you want to see them properly, you must be careful not to +frighten them, for there is no creature more timid at heart than a +snake. One will sometimes let you get quite near to it and watch it, +simply because it does not notice you, being rather deaf and very +shortsighted, but when it does discover your presence, its one thought +is to slip away quietly and hide itself. It is on account of this +extreme timidity that we see them so seldom. + +Of the two hundred and thirty-seven kinds that I have referred to, some +are, of course, very rare, or only found in particular parts of the +country, but at least forty or fifty of them occur everywhere, and some +are as plentiful as crows. Yet they keep themselves out of our way so +successfully that it is quite a rare event to meet with one. +Occasionally one finds its way into a house in quest of frogs, lizards, +musk-rats, or some other of the numerous malefactors that use our +dwellings as cities of refuge from the avenger, and it is discovered by +the Hamal behind a cupboard, or under a carpet. He does the one thing +which it occurs to a native to do in any emergency--viz. raises an +alarm. Then there is a general hubbub, servants rush together with the +longest sticks they can find, the children are hurried away to a place +of safety, the master appears on the scene, armed with his gun, and the + + Wee, sleekit, cowrin', tim'rous beastie, + +trying to slip away from the fuss which it dislikes so much, is headed, +and blown, or battered, to pieces. Then its head is pounded to a jelly, +for the servants are agreed that, if this precaution is omitted, it will +revive during the night and come and coil itself on the chest of its +murderer. + +Finally a council is held and a unanimous resolution recorded that +deceased was a serpent of the deadliest kind. This is not a lie, for +they believe it; but in the great majority of cases it is an untruth. Of +our two hundred and thirty-seven kinds of snakes only forty-four are +ranked by naturalists as venomous, and many of these are quite incapable +of killing any animal as large as a man. Others are very rare or local. +In short, we may reckon the poisonous snakes with which we have any +practical concern at four kinds, and the chance of a snake found in the +house belonging to one of these kinds stands at less than one in ten. + +It is a sufficiently terrible thought, however, that there are even four +kinds of reptiles going silently about the land whose bite is certain +death. If they knew their powers and were maliciously disposed, our life +in the East would be like Christian's progress through the Valley of the +Shadow of Death. But the poisonous snakes are just as timid as the rest, +and as little inclined to act on the offensive against any living +creature except the little animals on which they prey. Even a trodden +worm will turn, and a snake has as much spirit as a worm. If a man +treads on it, it will turn and bite him. But it has no desire to be +trodden on. It does its best to avoid that mischance, and, I need +scarcely say, so does a man unless he is drunk. When both parties are +sincerely anxious to avoid a collision, a collision is not at all likely +to occur, and the fact is that, of all forms of death to which we are +exposed in India, death by snake-bite is about the one which we have +least reason to apprehend. + +During a pretty long residence in India I have heard of only one +instance of an Englishman being killed by a snake. It was in Manipur, +and I read of it in the newspapers. During the same time I have heard of +only one death by lightning and one by falling into the fermenting vat +of a brewery, so I suppose these accidents are equally uncommon. Eating +oysters is much more fatal: I have heard of at least four or five deaths +from that cause. + +The natives are far more exposed to danger from snakes than we are, +because they go barefoot, by night as well as day, through fields and +along narrow, overgrown footpaths about their villages. The tread of a +barefooted man does not make noise enough to warn a snake to get out of +his way, and if he treads on one, there is nothing between its fangs and +his skin. Again, the huts of the natives, being made of wattle and daub +and thatched with straw, offer to snakes just the kind of shelter that +they like, and the wonder is that naked men, sleeping on the ground in +such places, and poking about dark corners, among their stores of fuel +and other chattels, meet with so few accidents. It says a great deal for +the mild and inoffensive nature of the snake. Still, the total number of +deaths by snake-bite reported every year is very large, and looks +absolutely appalling if you do not think of dividing it among three +hundred millions. Treated in that way it shrivels up at once, and when +compared with the results of other causes of death, looks quite +insignificant. + +The natives themselves are so far from regarding the serpent tribe with +our feelings that the deadliest of them all has been canonised and is +treated with all the respect due to a sub-deity. No Brahmin, or +religious-minded man of any respectable caste, will have a cobra killed +on any account. If one takes to haunting his premises, he will +propitiate it with offerings of silk and look for good luck from its +patronage. + +About snakes other than the cobra the average native concerns himself so +little that he does not know one from another by sight. They are all +classed together as _janwar,_ a word which answers exactly to the +"venomous beast" of Acts xxviii. 4; and though they are aware that some +are deadly and some are not, any particular snake that a _sahib_ has had +the honour to kill is one of the deadliest as a matter of course. I have +never met a native who knew that a venomous snake could be distinguished +by its fangs, except a few doctors and educated men who have imbibed +western science. In fact they do not think of the venom as a material +substance situated in the mouth. It is an effluence from the entire +animal, which may be projected at a man in various ways, by biting him, +or spitting at him, or giving him a flick with the tail. + +The Government of India spends a large sum of money every year in +rewards for the destruction of snakes. This is one of those sacrifices +to sentiment which every prudent government offers. The sentiment to +which respect is paid in this case is of course British, not Indian. +Indian sentiment is propitiated by not levying any tax on dogs, so the +pariah cur, owned and disowned, in all stages of starvation, mange and +disease, infests every town and village, lying in wait for the bacillus +of rabies. Against the one fatal case of snake-bite mentioned above, I +have known of at least half a dozen deaths among Englishmen from the +more horrible scourge of hydrophobia. In the steamer which brought me +home there were two private soldiers on their way to M. Pasteur, at the +expense, of course, of the British Government. + + + + +X + + +THE INDIAN SNAKE-CHARMER + +We must wait for another month or two before we can think of the winter +in this country in the past tense, but in India the month of March is +the beginning of the hot season, and the tourists who have been enjoying +the pleasant side of Anglo-Indian life and assuring themselves that +their exiled countrymen have not much to grumble at will now be making +haste to flee. + +During the month the various hotels of Bombay will be pretty familiar +with the grey sun-hat, fortified with _puggaree_ and pendent flap, which +is the sign of the globe-trotter in the East. And all the tribe of birds +of prey who look upon him as their lawful spoil will recognise the sign +from afar and gather about him as he sits in the balcony after +breakfast, taking his last view of the gorgeous East, and perhaps (it is +to be feared) seeking inspiration for a few matured reflections +wherewith to bring the forthcoming book to an impressive close. The +vendor of Delhi jewellery will be there and the Sind-work-box-walla, +with his small, compressed white turban and spotless robes, and the +Cashmere shawl merchant and many more, pressing on the gentleman's +notice for the last time their most tempting wares and preparing for the +long bout of fence which will decide at what point between "asking +price" and "selling price" each article shall change ownership. The +distance between these two points is wide and variable, depending upon +the indications of wealth about the purchaser's person and the +indications of innocence about his countenance. + +And when the poor globe-trotter, who has long since spent more money +than he ever meant to spend, and loaded himself with things which he +could have got cheaper in London or New York, tries to shake off his +tormentors by getting up and leaning over the balcony rails, the shrill +voice of the snake-charmer will assail him from below, promising him, in +a torrent of sonorous Hindustanee, variegated with pigeon English and +illuminated with wild gesticulations, such a superfine _tamasha_ as it +never was the fortune of the _sahib_ to witness before. + +_Tamasha_ is one of those Indian words, like _bundobust_, for which +there is no equivalent in the English language, and which are at once so +comprehensive and so expressive that, when once the use of them has been +acquired, they become indispensable, so that they have gained a +permanent place in the Anglo-Indian's vocabulary. It is not slang, but a +good word of ancient origin. Hobson-Jobson quotes a curious Latin writer +on the Empire of the Grand Mogul, who uses it with a definition +appended, "ut spectet Thamasham, id est pugnas elephantorum, leonum, +buffalorum et aliarura ferarum." "Show" comes nearest it in English, but +falls far short of it. + +The _tamasha_ which the snake-charmer promises the _sahib_ will include +serpent dances, a fight between a cobra and a mungoose, the inevitable +mango tree, and other tricks of juggling. But to a stranger the +snake-charmer himself is a better _tamasha_ than anything he can show. +He is indeed a most extraordinary animal. His hair and beard are long +and unkempt, his general aspect wild, his clothing a mixture of savagery +and the wreckage of civilisation. He wears a turban, of course, and +generally a large one; but it is put on without art, just wound about +his head anyhow, and hanging lopsidedly over one ear. It and the loose +cloth wrapped about the middle of him are as dirty as may be and truly +Oriental, though erratic. But, besides these, he wears a jacket of +coloured calico, or any other material, with one button fastened, +probably on the wrong buttonhole, and under this, if the weather is +cold, he may have a shirt seemingly obtained from some Indian +representative of Moses & Co. + +On his shoulder he carries a long bamboo, from the ends of which hang +villainously shabby baskets, some flat and round, occupied by snakes, +others large and oblong, filled with apparatus of jugglery. The members +of his family, down to an unclothed, precocious imp of ten, accompany +him, carrying similar baskets, or capacious wallets, or long, +cylindrical drums, on which they play with their fingers. The dramatic +effect of the whole is enhanced when one of them allows a huge python, a +snake of the _Boa constrictor_ tribe, which kills its prey by crushing +it, to wind its hideous, speckled coils round his body. + +What the snake-charmer is by race or origin ethnologists may determine +when they have done with the gipsy. He is not a Hindu. No particular +part of the country acknowledges him as its native. He is to the great +races, castes, and creeds of India what the waif is to the billows of +the sea. His language, in public at least, is Hindustanee, but this is a +sort of _lingua franca_, the common property of all the inhabitants of +the country. His religion is probably one of the many forms of demon +worship which grow rank on the fringes of Hinduism. He must be classed, +no doubt, with the other wandering tribes which roam the country, +camping under umbrellas, or something little better, each consecrated to +some particular form of common crime, and each professing some not in +itself dishonest occupation, like the tinkering of gipsies. + +But the snake-charmer is the best known and most widely spread of them +all. By occupation he is a professor of three occult sciences. First, he +is a juggler, and in this art he has some skill. His masterpiece is the +famous mango trick, which consists in making a miniature mango tree +grow up in a few minutes, and even blossom and bear fruit, out of some +bare spot which he has covered with his mysterious basket. It has been +written about by travellers in extravagant terms of astonishment and +admiration, but, as generally performed, is an extremely clumsy-looking +trick, though it is undoubtedly difficult to guess how it is done. A +more blood-curdling feat is to put the unclothed and precocious imp +aforementioned under a large basket, and then run a sword savagely +through and through every corner of it, and draw it out covered with +gore. When the sickened spectators are about to lynch the murderer, the +imp runs in smiling from the garden gate. + +The connection between these performances and the man's second trade, +namely, snake-charming, is not obvious to a Western mind; but it must be +remembered that the snake-charmer is not a mere, vulgar juggler, amusing +people with sleight-of-hand. His feats are miracles, performed with the +assistance of superior powers. In short, he is a theosophist, only his +converse is not with excorporated Mahatmas from Thibet, but with spirits +of another grade, whose Superior has been known from very remote +antiquity as an Old Serpent. In deference to this respectable connection +the cobra holds a distinguished place even in orthodox Hinduism. So it +is altogether fit that a performer of wonders should be on intimate +terms with the serpent tribe. The snake-charmer keeps all sorts of +them, but chiefly cobras. These he professes to charm from their holes +by playing upon an instrument which may have some hereditary connection +with the bagpipe, for it has an air-reservoir consisting of a large +gourd, and it makes a most abominable noise. As soon as the cobra shows +itself the charmer catches it by the tail with one hand, and, running +the other swiftly along its body, grips it firmly just behind the jaws, +so that it cannot turn and bite. Practice and coolness make this an easy +feat. Then the poison fangs are pulled out with a pair of forceps and +the cobra is quite harmless. It is kept in a round, flat basket, out of +which, when the charmer removes the lid and begins to play, it raises +its graceful head, and, expanding its hood, sways gently in response to +the music. + +Scientific men aver that a snake has no ears and cannot possibly hear +the strains of the pipe, but that sort of science simply spoils a +picturesque subject like the snake-charmer. So much is certain, that all +snakes cannot be played upon in this way: there are some species which +are utterly callous to the influences to which the cobra yields itself +so readily. No missionary will find any difficulty in getting a +snake-charmer to appreciate that Scripture text about the deaf adder +which will not listen to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so +wisely. + +To these two occupations the snake-charmer adds that of a medicine man, +for who should know the occult potencies of herbs and trees so well as +he? So, as he wanders from village to village, he is welcomed as well as +feared. But one wealthy tourist is worth more to him than a whole +village of ryots, so he keeps his eye on every town in which he is +likely to fall in with the travelling white man. And the travelling +white man would be sorry to miss him, for he is one of the few relics of +an ancient state of things which railways and telegraphs and the +Educational Department have left unchanged. + +The itinerant jeweller and the Sind-work-box-walla are unmistakably +being left behind as the East hurries after the West, and we shall soon +know them no more. Showy shops, where the inexperienced traveller may +see all the products of Sind and Benares, and Cutch and Cashmere, spread +before him at fixed prices, are multiplying rapidly and taking the bread +from the mouth of the poor hawker. But the snake-charmer seems safe from +that kind of competition. It is difficult to forecast a time when a +broad signboard in Rampart Row will invite the passer-by to visit Mr. +Nagshett's world-renowned Serpent Tamasha, Mungoose and Cobra Fight, +Mango-tree Illusion, etc. Entrance, one rupee. + + + + +XI + + +CURES FOR SNAKE-BITE + +In a little book on the snakes of India, published many years ago by Dr. +Nicholson of the Madras Medical Service, the conviction was expressed +that the snake-charmers of Burmah knew of some antidote to the poison of +the cobra which gave them confidence in handling it. He said that +nothing would induce them to divulge it, but that he suspected it +consisted in gradual inoculation with the venom itself. Putting the +question to himself why he did not attempt to attest this by experiment, +he replied that there were two reasons, which, if I recollect rightly, +were, first, that he had a strong natural repugnance to anything like +cruelty to animals, and, secondly, that he had observed that as soon as +a man got the notion into his head that he had discovered a cure for +snake-bite, he began to show symptoms of insanity. + +It is rather remarkable that, after so many years, another Scottish +doctor, not in Madras, but in Edinburgh, has proved, by just such +experiments as Dr. Nicholson shrank from, that an "aged and previously +sedate horse" may, by gradual inoculation with cobra poison, be +rendered so thoroughly proof against it that a dose which would suffice +to kill ten ordinary horses only imparts "increased vigour and +liveliness" to it. Further, Dr. Fraser has found that the serum of the +blood of an animal thus rendered proof against poison is itself an +antidote capable of combating that poison after it has been at work for +thirty minutes in the veins of a rabbit, and arresting its effects. And +all this has been achieved without apparent detriment to the +distinguished doctor's sanity. + +This must be intensely interesting intelligence to Englishmen throughout +India, and joyful intelligence too, for, scoff as we may at the danger +of being bitten by a poisonous snake, nobody likes to think that, if +such a thing _should_ happen to him (and very narrow escapes sometimes +remind us that it may), there would be nothing for him to do but to lie +down and die. And so, ever since the Honourable East India Company was +chartered, the antidote to snake poison has been a sort of philosopher's +stone, sought after by doctors and men of science along many lines of +investigation. And every now and then somebody has risen up and +announced that he has found it, and has had disciples for a season. + +But one remedy after another, though it might give startling results in +the laboratory, has proved to be useless in common life, and the +majority of Englishmen have long since resigned themselves to the +conclusion that there is no practical cure for the bite of a poisonous +snake. For what avails it to carry about in your travelling bag a phial +of strong ammonia and to live in more jeopardy of death by asphyxiation +than you ever were by snakes, unless you have some guarantee that, when +it is your fate to be bitten by a snake, the phial will be at hand? For +ammonia must act on the venom before the venom has had time to act upon +you, or it will only add another pain to your end; and that gives only a +few minutes to go upon. So with nitric acid and every agent that +operates by neutralising the poison and not by counteracting its +effects. And this has been the character of all the remedies hitherto +put forward. "They are," says Sir Joseph Fayrer, "absolutely without any +specific effect on the condition produced by the poison." + +But "anti-venene," as Dr. Fraser calls his immunised blood-serum, +follows the poison into the system, even after the fatal symptoms have +begun to show themselves, and arrests them at once. So the Anglo-Indian +may throw away his ammonia phial and, arming himself with another of +anti-venene and a hypodermic syringe, feel that he is safe against an +accident which will never happen. As for the man who is not nervous, he +will speak of the new antidote, and think of it as most interesting and +valuable, and go on his way as before with no expectation of ever being +bitten by a venomous snake. The medical man of every degree will order +a supply as soon as it is to be had, and conscientiously try to stamp +out the smouldering hope within him that somebody in the station will +soon be bitten by a cobra and give him a chance. + +Among the dusky millions of India Dr. Fraser's discovery will create no +"catholic ravishment" because they will not hear of it. And if they did +hear of it they would regard his labours as misapplied and the result as +superfluous. For the Hindu has never shared the Englishman's opinion +that there is no cure for snake-bite. On the contrary, he is assured +that there are not one or two but many specifics for the bite of every +kind of snake, known to those whose business it is to know them. If they +are not invariably efficacious, it is for the simple reason that if a +man's time has come to die he will die. But if his time has not come to +die they will not fail to cure him, and since no man can know when he is +bitten whether his time has come or not, he will lay the odds against +Fate by trying, not one or another of them, but as many as he can hear +of or get. Some of them are drastic in their effects, and so it too +often proves that the poor man's time has indeed come, for though he +might survive the snake he succumbs to the cure. + +It is many years now since the news was brought to me one day that a man +whom I knew very well had been bitten by a deadly serpent and was dying. +He was a fine, strongly built young fellow, a Mohammedan, in the employ +of a Parsee liquor distiller, in whose godown he was arranging firewood +when he was bitten in the foot. Without looking at the snake he rushed +out and, falling on his face on the ground, implored the bystanders to +take care of his wife and children as he was a dead man. The news spread +and all the village ran together. The man was taken to an open room in +his employer's premises and vigorous measures for his recovery were set +on foot, in which his employer's family and servants, his own friends +and as many of the general public as chose to look in, were allowed to +take part. + +First of all, some jungle men were called in, for the man of the jungle +must naturally know more about snakes than other men. These were +probably Katkurrees, an aboriginal race, who live by woodcutting, +hunting and other sylvan occupations. They proved to be practical men +and at once sucked the wound. An intelligent Havildar of the Customs +Department, who chanced to be present, then lanced the wound slightly to +let the blood flow, and tied the leg tightly in two places above it. +This was admirable. If what the jungle men and the Havildar did were +always and promptly done whenever a man is bitten by a snake, few such +accidents would end fatally. + +But this poor man's friends did not stop there. A supply of chickens had +been procured with all haste, and these were scientifically applied. +This is a remedy in which the natives have great faith, and I have known +Europeans who were convinced of its efficacy. The manner of its +application scarcely admits of description in these pages, but the +effect is that the chickens absorb the poison and die, while the man +lives. The number of chickens required is a gauge of the virulence of +the serpent, for as soon as the venom is all extracted they cease to +die. Nobody, however, could tell me how many chickens perished in this +case. They were all too busy to stop and note the result of one remedy +while another remained untried. And there were many yet. + +Somebody suggested that the venom should be dislodged from the patient's +stomach, so an emetic was administered in the form of a handful of +common salt, with immediate and seismic effect. Then a decoction of +_neem_ leaves was poured down the man's throat. The _neem_ tree is an +enemy of all fevers and a friend of man generally, so much so that it is +healthful to sleep under its shade. Therefore a decoction of the leaves +could not fail to be beneficial in one way or another. The residue of +the leaves was well rubbed into the crown of the man's head for more +direct effect on the brains in case they might be affected. Something +else was rubbed in under the root of the tongue. + +In the meantime a man with some experience in exorcism had brought twigs +of a tree of well-ascertained potency in expelling the devil, and +advised that, in view of the known connection between serpents and +Satan, it would be well to try beating the patient with these. The +advice was taken, and many stripes were laid upon him. Massage was also +tried, and other homely expedients, such as bandaging and thumping with +the fists, were not neglected. + +It was about noon when I was told of the accident, and I went down at +once and found the poor man in a woeful state, as well he might be after +such rough handling as he had suffered for four consecutive hours; but +he was quite conscious and there was neither pain nor swelling in the +bitten foot. I remonstrated most vigorously, pointing out that the +snake, which nobody had seen, might not have been a venomous one at all, +that there were no symptoms of poisoning, except such as might also be +explained by the treatment the man had suffered at the hands of his +friends, and that, in short, I could see no reason to think he was going +to die unless they were determined to kill him. + +My words appeared to produce a good effect on the Parsees at least, and +they consented to stop curing the man and let him rest, giving him such +stimulating refreshment as he would take, for he was a pious Mussulman +and would not touch wine or spirits. I said what I could to cheer him +up, and went away hoping that I had saved a human life. Alas! In an hour +or so a friend came in with a root of rare virtue and persuaded the man +to swallow some preparation of it. _Post hoc_, whether _propter hoc_ I +dare not say, he became unconscious and sank. Before night he was +buried. + +All this did not happen in some obscure village in a remote jungle. It +happened within a mile and a half of a town controlled by a municipal +corporation which enjoys the rights and privileges of "local +self-government." In that town there was a dispensary, with a very +capable assistant-surgeon in charge, and in that dispensary I doubt not +you would have found a bottle of strong _liquor ammoniae_ and a printed +copy of the directions issued by a paternal Government for the recovery +of persons bitten by venomous serpents. But when the man was bitten the +one thing which occurred to nobody was to take him there, and when I +heard of the matter the assistant-surgeon had just left for a distant +place, passing on his way the gate of the house in which the man lay. +This was a bad case, but there is little reason to hope that it was +altogether exceptional. I am afraid there can be no question at all that +hundreds of the deaths put down to snake-bite by village punchayets +every year might with more truth be registered as "cured to death." + + + + +XII + + +THE COBRA BUNGALOW + +A STORY OF A MONEYLENDER + +Beharil Surajmul was the greatest moneylender in Dowlutpoor. He was a +man of rare talents. He remembered the face of every man who had at any +time come to borrow money of him since he began to work, as a little +boy, in his father's office, so that it was impossible to deceive him. +He had also such a miraculous skill in the making out of accounts that a +poor man who had come to him in extremity for a loan of fifty rupees, to +meet the expenses of his daughter's marriage, might go on making +payments for the remainder of his life without reducing the debt by one +rupee. In fact, it seemed to increase with each payment. + +And if the matter went into court, Beharilal never failed to show that +there was still a balance due to him much larger than the original loan. +But so courteous and pleasant was the Seth in his manner to all that +such matters never went into court until the right time, of which he was +an infallible judge, for he knew the private affairs of every family in +Dowlutpoor. Then a decree was obtained and the debtor's house, or land, +was sold to defray the debt, Beharilal himself being usually the +purchaser, though not, of course, in his own name, for he was a prudent +man. + +By these means Beharilal had become possessed of large estates, which he +managed with such skill that they yielded to him revenues which they had +never yielded to the former owners of them, while his tenants, who were +mostly former owners, grew daily more deeply involved in their pecuniary +obligations to him, and therefore entertained no thought of leaving him, +for he could put them into prison any day if he chose. Their contentment +gave him great satisfaction, and he treated them with benevolence, +giving them advances of money for all their necessary expenses and +appropriating the whole of their crops at the harvest to repay himself. +He bound them to buy all that they had need of at his shop, so that he +made profit off them on both sides. + +And as his wealth increased, his person increased with it and his +appearance became more imposing, so that he was regarded everywhere with +the highest respect and esteem. He was, moreover, a very religious man +and charitable beyond most. By early risers he might be seen in his +garden seeking out the nests of ants and giving them, with his own +hands, their daily dole of rice. It was his benevolent thoughtfulness +which had supplied drinking troughs for the flocks of pigeons that +continually plundered the stores of the other grain merchants. He had +also established a pinjrapole for aged, sickly and ownerless animals of +all kinds. To this he required all his tenants to send their bullocks +when they became unfit for work, and he sold them new cattle, good and +strong, at prices fixed by himself. If any of his old debtors, when +reduced to beggary, came to his door for alms, they were never sent away +without a handful of rice or a copper coin. He kept a bag of the +smallest copper coins always at hand for such purposes. + +Beharilal had a fine house, designed by himself and surrounded by a vast +garden stocked with mangoes, guavas, custard apples, oranges and other +fruit trees, and made beautiful and fragrant with all manner of flowers. +The cool shade drew together birds of many kinds from the dry plains of +the surrounding country, and it pleased Beharilal to think that they +also were recipients of his bounty and that the benefits which he +conferred on them would certainly be entered to the credit of his +account with Heaven. + +Some he fed, such as the crows, which flocked about the back door, like +a convocation of Christian padres, in the morning and afternoon, when +the ladies of his family gave out their portion of boiled rice and ghee. +The pigeons also came together in hundreds in an open space under the +shade of a noble peepul tree, where grain was thrown out for them at +three o'clock every day; and among them were many chattering sparrows +and not a few green parrots, which walked quaintly among the bustling +pigeons, their long tails moving from side to side like the pointer of +the scale on which the Bunia weighed his rupees. This resemblance struck +him as he reclined against the fat red cushion in his verandah summing +up his gains. There were other birds which would not eat his food, but +found abundance, suited to their respective castes, among the shrubs and +trees that he had planted. Mynas walked eagerly on the lawns looking for +grasshoppers, glittering sunbirds hovered over the flowers, thrusting +their slender bills into each nectar-laden blossom, bulbuls twittered +among the mulberries and the koel made the shady banian tree resound +with its melodious notes. + +In a remote corner of the garden, under the dark shade of a tamarind, +there stood a small shrine, like a whitewashed tomb, with a niche or +recess on one side of it containing a conical stone smeared with red +ochre. Some called it Mahadeo and some Khandoba, but no one could +explain the presence of a Mahratta god in a Bunia's garden in +Dowlutpoor, except by quoting an old tradition about one Narayen who had +come from the Mahratta country and lived for many years in this place. +Some said he was a prosperous goldsmith of great piety, but others +maintained that he was a Sunyasee, or saint, and there was no certainty +in the matter. The one point on which all were agreed was the great +sanctity of the shrine, and Beharilal was most careful to perform at it +every ceremony which custom, or tradition, sanctioned for placating the +god and averting any calamity that might arise from his displeasure. + +At the base of one of the old cracked walls of the shrine there was a +hole which was the den of a very large, black cobra. Several times it +had been seen in the garden, and, when pursued, had glided into this +hole and escaped. When Beharilal first heard of it he was much troubled +in his mind, but, having consulted a Brahmin, he gave strict injunctions +that the reptile should not be molested, and since that time he had +never failed to place an offering of milk near to the hole in the +morning and in the evening. + +Now it happened that at this time there was in Dowlutpoor an English +doctor who was generally known as the Jadoo-walla Saheb, because he was +believed to practise sorcery and had some mysterious need of snakes. +Perhaps he was only making experiments with their venom. At any rate, he +wanted live cobras and offered a good price for them. So when Nagoo, the +snake-charmer, heard that there was a large one in Beharilal's garden, +he thought he might do good business by capturing it for the Jadoo-walla +Saheb, and at the same time demanding a reward from the timorous Bunia +for ridding him of such a dangerous neighbour. With this intent he +repaired to the garden with all the apparatus of his art, his flat +snake baskets, his mongoose and his crooked pipe. Having reconnoitred +the ground, he commenced operations by sitting down on his hams and +producing such ear-splitting strains from the crooked pipe as might have +charmed Cerberus to leave his kennel at the gate of hell. Great was his +surprise and mortification when he heard the voice of Beharilal raised +in tones of unwonted passion and saw a stalwart Purdaisee advancing +towards him armed with an iron-bound lathee, who, without ceremony, nay, +with abusive epithets, hustled him and all his gear out of the garden. +Nagoo was a snake-charmer and by nature a gipsy, and this treatment +rankled in his dark bosom. + +Some weeks passed and the sun had scarcely risen when Beharilal sat in +the ota in front of his house at his daily business, which began as soon +as his teeth were cleaned and ended about eleven at night. The place was +not tidy. Two or three mats were spread on the floor, a spare one was +rolled up in a corner, several pairs of shoes were on the steps, +umbrellas leaned against the wall, handles downwards, and a large chatty +of drinking water stood beside them. The Bunia himself, bare-headed and +bare-footed, sat cross-legged on a cushion, with a wooden stool in front +of him, on which lay an open ledger of stout yellowish paper, bound in +soft red leather and nearly two feet in length. In this he was carefully +entering yesterday's transactions with a reed pen, which he dipped +frequently in a brass inkpot filled with a sponge soaked in a muddy +black fluid. + +Beside him sat his son, aged two years, playing with the red, lacquered +cylinder in which he kept his reed pens. Beharilal had two girls also, +but they were with the women folk in the interior of the house, where he +was content they should stay. This was his only boy, the pride and joy +of his heart. Engrossed as he was in recording his gains, he could not +refrain from lifting his eyes now and again to feast them on that rotund +little body, like a goblet set on two pillars. No clothing concealed the +tense and shiny brown skin, but there were silver bracelets on the fat +wrists and massive anklets where deep creases divided the fat little +feet from the fat little legs, and a representation, in chased silver, +of Eve's fig leaf hung from a silver chain which encircled the sphere +that should have been his waist. His globular head was curiously shaven. +From two deep pits between the bulging brow and the fat cheeks that +nearly squeezed out the little nose between them, two black diamonds +twinkled, full of wonder, as the small purse mouth prattled to itself +softly and inarticulately of the mysteries of life. + +Suddenly a startled cry, passing into a prolonged wail of fear, roused +old Beharilal, and he saw a sight that nearly caused him to swoon with +terror. The little man, a moment ago so placid and happy, was shrinking +back with "I don't like that thing" inscribed in lines of anguish on +his distorted face, and not three feet from him a huge cobra, just +emerged from the roll of matting, eyed him with a stony stare, its head +raised and its hood expanded. Its quivering tongue flickered out from +between its lips like distant flashes of forked lightning. + +For a moment Beharilal stood stupefied, then all the heroism that was in +him spent itself at once. Seizing the heavy wooden stool in both his +hands, he raised it high over his head and dashed it down on the +reptile. The sharp edge of hard wood broke its back, and as it wriggled +and lashed about, biting at everything within reach, the Bunia snatched +up his boy and waddled into the house at a pace to which he had long +been unaccustomed, calling out, in frantic gasps, for help. A rush of +excited and screaming women met him in the inner court, and he dropped +his precious burden, with pious ejaculations, into the arms of its +mother, and stood panting and speechless. Then calling aloud to know if +all danger was past, he ventured cautiously out again and saw that the +Purdaisee and the Malee had ejected the wriggling cobra and were +pounding its head into a jelly with a big stone. + +For some seconds he looked on in a strange stupor, and then he realised +what he had done. He, Beharilal, the Bunia, who had always removed the +insects so tenderly from his own person that they were not hurt, who had +never committed the sin of killing a mosquito or a fly; he, with his own +hands, had taken the life of the guardian cobra of the shrine! +"Urray-ray! Bap-ray!" he cried, "for what demerit of mine has this +ill-luck befallen me in my old age? What will happen now?" + +"Nay, Sethjkee," said the Malee, "be not afraid. It was in your destiny +that this offspring of Satan should come to its end by your hand. We +have pounded its head properly, so it will not return to you," + +"But what of its mate?" said Beharilal. "I have heard that, if any man +kills a cobra, its mate will follow him by day and by night until it has +had its revenge. Is that not so?" + +The Malee answered, "Chh, Chh! There is no mate of this cobra," but his +tone was not confident. + +"Go," cried Beharilal--"go quickly and call Nagoo, the snake-charmer. He +has knowledge." + +"I will go," said the Malee, and set off at a run; but when he got out +of the gate he lapsed into a leisurely walk, for why should a man lose +his breath without cause? In time he found his way to the little +settlement of huts constructed of poles and mats, where Nagoo sat on the +ground smoking his "chillum," and told his errand. + +"Why should I come?" was Nagoo's reply; "I went to take away that cobra +and the Bunia drove me from the garden with abuse. Why does he send for +me now?" + +"He is a Bunia," said the Malee, as if that summed up the whole matter; +but he added, after a pause, "If he sees a burning ground, he shakes +like a peepul leaf. The cobra has died by his hand and his liver has +become like water. Whatever you ask he will give. You should come," + +Nagoo replied aloud, "I will come," and to himself, "I will give him +physic." Then he took up his baskets and his pipe and followed the +Malee. + +Beharilal proceeded to business with a directness foreign to his habit, +looking over his shoulder at intervals lest a snake might be silently +approaching. "Good Nagoo," he said, "a great misfortune has happened. +The cobra of the shrine has been killed. Has it a mate?" + +"How can a cobra not have a mate?" answered Nagoo curtly. + +Then Beharilal employed the most insinuating of the many tones of his +voice. "Listen, Nagoo. You are a man of skill. Capture that cobra and I +will pay you well. I will give you five rupees." Then, observing no +response in the wrinkled visage of the charmer, "I will give you ten +rupees." + +Nagoo would have sold his revenge for a tithe of the wealth thus dangled +before him, but he saw no reason to suppose that there was another cobra +anywhere in the garden, so he answered with the calm confidence of an +expert, "That cannot be done. The serpent will not heed any pipe now. In +its mind there is only revenge." + +"Then what will it do?" said the trembling Bunia. + +"If its mate died by the hand of a man, it will follow that man until +it has accomplished its purpose." + +"But how will it know," asked Beharilal, "by whose hand its mate died?" + +Nagoo replied with pious simplicity, "How can I tell by what means it +knows? God informs it." + +"But," pleaded Beharilal, "is there no escape?--if a man goes away by +the railway or by water?" + +Nagoo pondered for a moment and said, "If a man crossed the sea, the +serpent would be baulked. If he goes by railway it will not leave him. +Let him go to Madras, it will find him." + +With a faltering hand the Bunia put some rupees, uncounted, into the +charmer's skinny palm, saying, "Go, make incantations. Do something. +There is great knowledge of mysteries with you"; and he hurried back +into the house. + +His arrangements were very soon made. His account books, with a bundle +of bonds and hoondies and cash and his son, were put into a small cart +drawn by a pair of fast trotting bullocks, into which he himself +climbed, after looking under the cushion to see that there was no evil +beast lurking there, and got away in haste while the sun was yet hot. +The rest of the family followed with the household property, and in a +few days the house was empty and only the Malee remained in charge. Many +years have passed and the house is empty still, and the Malee, grown +grey and frail, is still in charge. He gets no wages, but he sells the +jasmine flowers and the mangoes and guavas, and he grows chillies and +brinjals, and so fills the stomachs of himself and his little grandson +and is contented. If you ask him where the Seth has gone, he replies, +"Who knows?" His debt has gone with his creditor, "gone glimmering +through the dream of things that were," and he has no desire to recall +them. + +A civil or military officer from the station, taking a solitary walk, +sometimes finds himself at the Cobra Bungalow, and turns in to wander +among its old trees and unswept paths, obstructed by overgrown and +untended shrubs, and wonders how it got its name. Then he pauses at the +whitewashed shrine and notes that the god-stone has been freshly painted +red and that chaplets of faded flowers lie before it. But the old Malee +approaches with a meek salaam and a posy of jasmine and marigolds and +warns him that there is a cobra in the shrine. + + + + +XIII + + +THE PANTHER I DID NOT SHOOT + +It was January 13 of a good many years ago, in those happy days that +have "gone glimmering through the dream of things that were." The sun +had scarcely risen, and I was sitting in the cosy cabin of my yacht +enjoying my "chota hazree," which, being interpreted, means "lesser +presence," and in Anglo-Indian speech signifies an "eye-opener" of tea +and toast--the greater presence appears some hours later and we call it +breakfast. I will not say that the view from my cabin windows was +enchanting. The placid waters of the broad creek would have been +pleasant to look upon if the level rays of the sun in his strength had +not skimmed them with such a blinding glare, but the low, flat-topped +hills that bounded them were forbidding. + +The people said truly that God had made this a country of stones, but +they forgot that He had clothed the stones with trees of evergreen +foliage and a dense undergrowth of shrubs and grass, to protect and hold +together the thick bed of loam which the fallen leaves enriched from +year to year. It was the axes of their fathers that felled the trees, +to sell for fuel, and the billhooks of their mothers that hacked away +the bushes and grubbed up their very roots to burn on the household +cooking hole. Then the torrential rains of the south-west monsoon came +down on the naked, defenceless, parched and cracked soil and swept it in +muddy cascades down to the sea, leaving flats of bare rock, strewn thick +with round stones, sore to the best-shod foot of man and cruel to the +hoofs of a horse. About and among the huts of the unswept and malodorous +hamlet just above the shore there were fine trees, mango, tamarind, +babool and bor, showing what might have been elsewhere. + +On the rounded top of the highest hill frowned in black ruin an old +Mahratta fort, covered on the top and sides and choked within by that +dense mass of struggling vegetation which always takes possession of old +forts in India. The weather-worn stones and crumbling mortar seem to +feed the trees to gluttony. First some bird-drops the seeds of the +banian fig into crevices of the ramparts, and its insidious roots push +their way and grow and grow into great tortuous snakes, embracing the +massive blocks of basalt, heaving them up and holding them up, so that +they cannot fall. Then prickly shrubs and thorny trees follow, fighting +for every inch of ground, but quite unable to eject the gently +persistent custard-apple, descended doubtless from seeds which the +garrison dropped as they ate the luscious fruit, on account of which the +Portuguese introduced the tree from South America. I had penetrated +into that fort and had seen something of the snakes and birds of night, +but not the ghosts and demons which I was assured made it their +habitation by day. + +On a level place a little below the fort stood two monuments, telling of +the days when the Honourable East India Company maintained a "Resident" +at this place. Here he lived in proud solitude, upholding the British +flag. But his wife and the little one on whose face he had not yet +looked were on their way from Bombay in a native "pattimar" to join him, +and as he stood gazing over the sea at the red setting sun one 5th of +October, he thought of the glad to-morrow and the end of his dreary +loneliness. It fell to him to put up one of these monuments, with a +sorrowful inscription to all that was left to him on the following +morning, the "memory" of a beloved wife and an infant thirty-one days +old, drowned in crossing the bar on October 6, 1853. + + We have strewed our best to the weeds unrest, + To the shark and the sheering gull. + If blood be the price of admiralty, + Lord God, we ha' paid in full. + +I carried my gun and rifle with me in my yacht. They served to keep up +my character as a sportsman, and did not often require to be cleaned. So +the morning calm of my mind was lashed into an unwonted tempest of +excitement when my jolly skipper, Sheikh Abdul Rehman, came in and told +me briefly that a "bag" (which word does not rhyme with rag, but must +be pronounced like barg without the _r_ and signifies a tiger or +panther) had killed a cow in the village the night before last. + +When he added that the villagers had set a spring gun for it last +evening and it had returned to the "kill" and been badly wounded, my +excitement was turned into wrath. I had been at anchor here all +yesterday. The Indian ryot everywhere turns instinctively to the _sahib_ +as his protector against all wild beasts. What did these men mean by +keeping their own counsel and setting an infernal machine for their +enemy? Abdul Rehman explained, and the explanation was simple and +sufficient. My fat predecessor in the appointment that I held had no +relish for sport and kept no guns, so the simple villagers, when they +saw my boat with its familiar flag, looked for no help from that +quarter. However, I might still win renown off that wounded "bag," if it +was not a myth; but, to tell the truth, I was sceptical. The tiger and +the panther are not nomads on rocky plains, like the antelope. I landed, +notwithstanding, promptly and visited the scene. Sure enough, there was +a young heifer lying on its side, with the unmistakable deep pits where +the jaws of the panther had gripped its throat, and a gory cavity where +it had selected a gigot for its dinner. + +Round the corpse the villagers had arranged a circular fence of thorns, +with one opening, across which they had stretched a cord, attached at +the other end to the trigger of an old shooting iron of some sort, +charged with slugs and looking hard at the opening. The gun had gone off +during the night, and the ground was soaked with blood. A few yards off +there was another great swamp of blood. The beast had staggered away and +lain down for a while, faint and sick. Then it had got up and crawled +home, still dripping with blood, by which we tracked it for a good +distance, but the trace grew gradually fainter and at last ceased +altogether. + +"It has gone to the fort," said the men--"bags always go to the fort." I +pointed out that, if it had meant to go to the fort, it would have gone +towards the fort, instead of in another direction; but the argument did +not move them. "The fort is a jungle, and where else should a 'bag' take +refuge but in a jungle?" However, I was obstinate, and pursued the +original direction until we arrived at the brow of the hill, where it +sloped steeply down to the sea. The whole slope, for half a mile, was +covered with a dense scrub of Lantana bushes. This is another plant +introduced in some by-gone century from South America, and planted first +in gardens for its profuse clusters of red and pink verbena-like +blossoms (it is a near relation of the garden verbena), whence it has +spread like the rabbit in New Zealand, and become a nuisance. "There," I +cried, pointing at the scrub, "there, without doubt, your wounded 'bag' +is lying." + +Some of the men, unbelieving still, were amusing themselves by rolling +large stones down the slope, when suddenly there was a sound of +scrambling, and across an opening in the scrub, in sight of us all, a +huge hyaena scurried away "on three legs." I sent a man post-haste for +my rifle, which I had not brought with me, never expecting to require it +until a regular campaign could be arranged. As soon as it arrived, we +formed in line and advanced, throwing stones in all directions. + +Make no offering of admiration at the shrine of our hardihood, for we +were in no peril. Among carnivorous beasts there is not a more +contemptible poltroon than the hyaena, even when wounded. A friend of +mine once tied up a billy goat as a bait for a panther and sat up over +it in a tree. In the middle of the night a hyaena nosed it from afar, +and came sneaking up in the rear, for hyaenas love the flesh of goats +next to that of dogs. But the goat saw it, and, turning about bravely, +presented his horned front. This the hyaena could not find stomach to +face. For two hours he manoeuvred to take the goat in rear, but it +turned as he circled, and stood up to him stoutly till the dawn came, +and my friend cut short its disreputable career with a bullet. + +To return to my story, we had not gone far when, on a lower level, not +many yards from me, I was suddenly confronted by that repulsive, +ghoulish physiognomy which can never be forgotten when once seen, the +smoky-black snout, broad forehead and great upstanding ears. Instantly +the beast wheeled and scrambled over a bank, receiving a hasty rear +shot which, as I afterwards found, left it but one limb to go with, for +the bullet passed clean through a hindleg and lodged in a foreleg. It +went on, however, and some time passed before I descried it far off +dragging itself painfully across an open space. A careful shot finished +it, and it died under a thick bush, where we found it and dragged it +out. It proved to be a large male, measuring 4 feet 7 inches, from which +something over a foot must be deducted for its shabby tail. + +The natives all maintained still that their cow had been killed by a +panther, saying that the hyaena had come on the second night, after +their manner, to fill its base belly with the leavings. And there was +some circumstantial evidence in favour of this view. In the first place, +I never heard of a hyaena having the audacity to attack a cow; in the +second, the tooth-marks on the cow showed that it had been executed +according to the tradition of all the great cats--by seizing its throat +and breaking its neck; and in the third, a hyaena, sitting down to such +a meal, would certainly have begun with calf's head and crunched up +every bone of the skull before thinking of sirloin or rumpsteak. But the +absurdity of a panther being found in such a region outweighed all this +and I scoffed. + +I was yet to learn a lesson in humility out of this adventure. Two years +later I sailed over the bar and dropped anchor at the same spot. I was +met with the intelligence that on the previous evening two panthers had +been seen sitting on the brow of the hill and gazing at the beauties of +the fading sunset, as wild beasts are so fond of doing. A night or two +later a cow was attacked in a neighbouring field, and, staggering into +the village, fell down and died in a narrow alley between two houses. +The panther followed and prowled about all night, but the villagers, +hammering at their doors with sticks, scared it from its meal. + +I at once had a nest put up in a small tree, and took my position in it +at sunset. The common people in India do not waste much money on lamp +oil, preferring to sleep during the hours appointed by Nature for the +purpose, so it was not long before all doors were securely barred and +quietness reigned. Then the mosquitoes awoke and came to inquire for me, +the little bats (how I blessed them!) wheeled about my head, the +night-jar called to his fellow, and the little owls sat on a branch +together and talked to each other about me. Hour after hour passed, and +it became too dark in that narrow alley to see a panther if it had come. +So I came down and got to my boat. The panther was engaged a mile away +dining on another cow! On further inquiry I learned that there was some +good forest a day's journey distant, and it was quite the fashion among +the panthers of that place to spend a weekend occasionally at a spot so +full of all delights as this dark, jungle-smothered fort. + + + + +XIV + + +THE PURBHOO + +I do not believe that the Member of Parliament who moved the adjournment +of the House to consider the culpable carelessness of the Government of +India in allowing the Rajah of Muttighur to fall into the moat of his +own castle when he was drunk, could have told you what a Purbhoo is, not +though you had spelled it Prabhu, so that he could find it in his +_Gazetteer_. Of course he saw hundreds of them during that Christmas +which he spent in the East before he wrote his book; but then he took +them all for Brahmins. He never noticed that the curve of their turbans +was not the same, and the idol mark on their foreheads was quite +different, nor even that their shoes were not forked at the toes, but +ended in a sharp point curled upwards. And if he did not see these +things which were on the surface, what could he know of matters that lie +deeper? + +Now the first and most important thing to be known respecting the +Purbhoo, the fundamental fact of him, is that he is not a Brahmin. If he +were a Brahmin, one essential piece of our administrative apparatus in +India would be wanting, and without it the whole machinery would +assuredly go out of order. Nor is it easy to see how we could replace +him. Not one of the other castes would serve even as a makeshift. They +are all too far removed from the Brahmin. But the Purbhoo is near him, +irritatingly near him, and he has proved in practice to be just the sort +of homoeopathic remedy we require, the counter-irritant, the outward +blister by wise application of which we can keep down the internal +inflammation. + +In speaking of the Brahmin as an inflammation in the body politic I +disown all offensive and invidious implications. I am only using a +convenient simile. You may reverse it if you like and make the disease +stand for the Purbhoo, in which case the Brahmin will be the blister. +Which way fits the facts best will depend upon which caste chances at +the time to be nearest to the vitals of Government. + +The case stands thus. Before the days of British rule the Brahmin was +the priest and man of letters, the "clerke" in short. The rajahs and +chiefs were much of the same mind as old Douglas: + + Thanks to Saint Bothan son of mine, + Save Gawain, ne'er could pen a line, + +Gawain being a bishop. As a Mohammedan gentleman related to one of the +ruling Indian princes put the matter when speaking to me a few years +ago, "In those days none of us could write. Our pen was the sword. If +any writing had to be done the Brahmin was called in." And no doubt he +did excellent service, being diligent, astute, and withal pliant and +diplomatic. If to these qualities he added ambition, he might, and often +did, become a Cardinal Wolsey in the state. In Poona, for example, the +Brahmin Prime Minister gradually overshadowed the Mahratta king, and the +descendant of Shivajee was put on a back shelf as Rajah of Sattara, +while the Peishwa ruled at the capital. + +Of course this carnal advancement was not gained without some sacrifice +of his spiritual character, and the "secular" Brahmin had to bow, _quoad +sacra_, to the penniless Bhut, or "regular" Brahmin, who, refusing to +contaminate his sanctity by doing any kind of work, ate of the temple, +or lived by royal bounty or private charity, and by the free breakfasts +without which a marriage, "thread ceremony" or funeral in a gentleman's +house could not be respectably celebrated. Idleness and sanctity are a +powerful combination, and it is written in the _shastras_ that every day +in which a holy man does no work for his bread, but lives by begging, is +equal in the eyes of the gods to a day spent in fasting; so, though the +prospect of power and wealth might tempt a few restless and wayward +spirits, the great mass of the Brahmin caste clung to the sacred +calling. + +All this time the Purbhoo was in the land, but insignificant. He had no +sacred calling. Tradition assigned him a hybrid origin. He could not +presume to be a warrior, because his mother was a _shoodra_, nor could +he condescend to be a farmer, for his father was a _kshutriya_. So the +gods had given him the pen, and he was a writer--not a secretary, but a +humble quill-driver. But when the Portuguese and then the British came +upon the scene, not ruling by word of mouth, like the native rajahs, but +inditing their orders and keeping records, the Purbhoo saw an open door +and went in. + +Then the Brahmin woke up, for he saw that he was in evil case. The +spirit of the British _raj_ was falling like a blight and a pestilence +upon the means by which he had lived, drying up the fountains of +religious revenue and slowly but surely blighting the luxuriance of that +pious liberality which always took the form of feeding holy men. He +found that he must work for his bread whether he liked it or not, and +the only implement of secular work that would not soil his priestly hand +was the pen. And this was already taken up by the Purbhoo, who carried +himself haughtily under the new _regime_ and showed no mind to make way +for the holier man. Hence sprang those bitter enmities and jealousies +which have done so much to lighten the difficulties of our position. + +The British Government has often been accused of acting on the maxim, +_Divide et impera_. It is a libel. We do not divide, for there is no +need. Division is already there. We have only to rejoice and rule. How +well and justly we rule all the world knows, but only the initiated know +how much we owe to the fact that the talents and energies which would +otherwise be employed in thwarting our just intentions and +phlebotomising the ryot are largely preoccupied with the more useful +work of thwarting and undermining each other. + +What could a collector do single-handed against a host of clerks and +subordinate magistrates and petty officials of every grade, all armed +with the awfulness of a heaven-born sanctity, all hedged round with the +prestige of an ancient supremacy, endowed with a mole-like genius for +underground work which the Englishman never fathoms, and all leagued +together to suck to the uttermost the life blood of those inferior +castes which were created expressly for their advantage? + +_He_ is working in a foreign language, among customs and ways of thought +which it takes a lifetime to understand: _they_ are using their mother +tongue and handling matters that they have known from childhood. _He_ +cannot tell a lie and is ashamed to deceive: _they_ are trained in a +thrifty policy which saves the truth for a last resort in case +everything else should fail. He would be helpless in their hands as a +sucking child. But he knows they will do for him what he cannot do for +himself. The Purbhoo will lie in wait for the Brahmin, and the Brahmin +will keep his lynx eye on the Purbhoo. And woe to the one who trips +first. So the collector arranges his men with judicious skill to the +fostering of each other's virtue, and the result is most gratifying. +The country blesses his administration, and his subordinates are equally +surprised and delighted at their own integrity. + +I speak of a wise and able administrator. There are men in the Indian +Civil Service who are neither wise nor able, and some who are not +administrators at all, having most unhappily mistaken their vocation. +When such a one becomes collector of a district his _chitnis_, or chief +secretary, sees that that tide in the affairs of men has come which, +"taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," and his caste-fellows all +through the service are filled with unholy joy. But he does nothing rash +or hasty. Wilily and patiently he goes to work to make his own +foundation sure first of all. He studies his chief under all conditions, +discovers his little foibles and vanities and feeds them sedulously. He +masters codes, rules and regulations, standing orders, precedents and +past correspondence, till it is dangerous to contradict him and always +safe to trust him. In every difficulty he is at hand, clearing away +perplexity and refreshing the "swithering" mind with his precision and +assurance. He becomes indispensable. The collector reposes absolute +confidence in him and is proud to say so in his reports. + +Then the _chitnis_, if he is a Brahmin, addresses himself to the task of +eliminating the Purbhoo from the service, or at least depriving him of +place and power. It is a delicate task, but the Brahmin's touch is +light. He never disparages a Purbhoo from that day; "damning with faint +praise" is safer and as effectual. He practises the charity which +covereth a multitude of faults, but he leaves a tag end of one peeping +out to attract curiosity, and if the collector asks questions, he is +candid and tells the truth, though with manifest reluctance. Then he +grapples with the gradation lists, which have fallen into confusion, and +puts them into such excellent order that the collector can see at a +glance every man's past services and present claims to promotion. And +from these lists it appears that clearly, whenever any vacancy has to be +filled, a Brahmin has the first claim. And so, as the shades of night +yield to the dawn of day, the Purbhoo by degrees fades away and +disappears, and the star of the Brahmin rises and shines everywhere with +still increasing splendour. + +But the Purbhoo possesses his soul in patience, and keeps a note of +every slip that the Brahmin makes. For the next _chitnis_ may be a +Purbhoo, and then the day of reckoning will come and old scores will be +paid off. The Brahmin knows that too, and the thought of it makes him +walk warily even in the day of his prosperity. Thus our administration +is saved from utter corruption. + + + + +XV + + +THE COCONUT TREE + +Among the classic fairy-tales which passed like shooting stars across +those dark hours of our boyhood in which we wrestled with the grim +rudiments of Latin and Greek, and which abide in the memory after nearly +all that they helped to brighten has passed away, there was one which +related to a contest between Neptune and Minerva as to which should +confer the greatest benefit on the human race. Neptune first struck his +trident on the ground (or was it on the waves? "Eheu fugaces"--no, that +also is gone), and there sprang forth a noble steed, pawing the ground, +terrible in war and no less useful in peace. Then the watery god leaned +back and smiled as if he would say, "Now, beat that." But the Goddess of +Wisdom brought out of the earth a modest, dark tree bearing olives and, +in classic phrase, "took the cake," Oriental mythology is more luxuriant +and fantastic than that of the West, but I do not know if it has any +legend parallel to this. If it has, then I am sure the palm is awarded +to the deity who gave to the human race the tree that bears the coconut. + +Passing a confectioner's shop, I saw a tempting packet labelled +"Cokernut Toffee." I bought a pennyworth and gave it to my little girl, +and + + "I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge." + +How many boys and girls are there in this kingdom to whom the word +coconut connotes an ingredient which goes to the making of a very +toothsome sweetie? And how many confectioners and shop girls are there +whose idea is no broader? Again: + + "I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, + And merrie sang the Birde as she sat upon the spraye." + +And I said, "Little Bird, what do you know of the coconut?" And it made +answer, "It is a cup full of food, rich and sweet, which kind hands hang +out for me in winter," How narrow may be the key-hole through which we +take our outlook on things human and divine, never doubting that we see +the whole! In our own British Empire, only a few thousand miles away, +sits a mild Hindu, almost unclad and wholly unlettered, to whom the tree +that bore the fruit that flavoured the toffee that my little girl is +enjoying seems to be one of the predominating tints of the whole +landscape of life. It puts a roof over his head, it lightens his +darkness, it helps to feed his body, it furnishes the wine that maketh +glad his heart and the oil that causeth his face to shine, and time +would fail me to tell of all the other things that it does for him. As a +type and symbol, it is always about him, spanning the sunshine and +shower of life with bows of hope. + +The coconut tree is a palm, and has nothing to do with cocoa of the +breakfast table. That word is a perversion of "cacao," and came to us +from Mexico: the other is the Portuguese word "coco," which means a nut. +It is what Vasco da Gama called the thing when he first saw it, and the +word, with our English translation added, has stuck to it. The tree is, +I need scarcely say, a palm, one of many kinds that flourish in India. +But none of them can be ranked with it. The rough date palm makes dense +groves on sandy plains, but brings no fruit to perfection, pining for +something which only Arabia can supply; the strong but unprofitable +"brab," or fan palm, rises on rocky hills, the beautiful fish-tailed +palm in forests solitarily, while the "areca" rears its tall, smooth +stem and delicate head in gardens and supplies millions with a solace +more indispensable than tobacco or tea. But the coconut loves a sandy +soil and the salt breath of the sea and the company of its own kind. The +others grow erect as a mast, but the gentle coconuts lean on the wind +and mingle the waving of their sisterly arms, casting a grateful shade +on the humble folk who live under their blessing. + +To the mariner sailing by India's coral strand that country presents the +aspect of an endless beach of shell sand, quite innocent of coral, on +which the surf breaks continually into dazzling white foam against a +dark background of pensive palms. He might naturally suppose that they +had grown up of themselves, like the screw-pines and aloes which +sometimes share the beach with them; but that would be a great mistake. +Everyone of them has been planted and carefully watered for years and +manured annually with fresh foliage of forest trees buried in a moat +round the root. And so it grew in stature, but not in girth, until its +head was sixty, seventy or even eighty feet above the ground, and a +hundred nuts of various sizes hung in bunches from long, shiny, green +arms, each as thick as a man's, which had thrust themselves out from +between the lower fronds. + +There is no production of Nature that I know of less negotiable than a +coconut as the tree presents it. The man who first showed the way into +it deserved a place in mythology with Prometheus, Jason and other heroes +of the dawn. There is a crab, I know, which lives on coconuts, enjoying +the scientific name of _Birgus latro_, the Burglar; but it seems to be a +special invention, as big as a cat and armed with two fearful pairs of +pincers in front for rending the outside casings of the fruits, and a +more delicate tool on its hind-legs for picking out the meat. Other +animals have to do without it, as had man, I opine, in the stone and +copper ages. With the iron age came a chopper, called in Western India a +"koita," with which he can hack his way through most of the obstructions +of life. When, with this, he has slashed off the tough outer rind and +the inch-thick packing of agglutinated fibres, like metal wires, he has +only to crack the hard shell which contains the kernel. + +How little we can conceive the spaces in his life that would be empty +without that firm pulp, at once nutritious, sweet and fragrant! Curry +cannot be made without it, the cook cannot advance three steps in its +absence, pattimars laden with it are sailing north, south, east and +west, a thousand creaky wooden mills are squeezing the limpid oil out of +it, a hundred thousand little earthen lamps filled with that oil are +making visible the smoky darkness of hut and temple, brightening the +wedding feast and illuminating the sad page over which the candidate for +university honours nods his shaven head. That oil fed lighthouses of the +first order and illuminated viceregal balls and durbars before paraffin +and kerosene inundated the earth. And it has other uses. For arresting +premature baldness and preventing the hair turning grey its virtues are +equalled by no other oil known to us, and there is a fortune awaiting +the hairdresser who can find means effectually to remove or suppress its +peculiar and penetrating odour. Joao Gomez, my faithful "boy," did not +object to the odour, and when he had been tempted to pass my comb +through his raven locks as he was dusting my dressing table, I always +knew it. + +When the white kernel has been turned to account, the utilities of the +coconut are not exhausted. The shell, neatly bisected, makes a pair of +teacups, and either of these, fitted with a wooden handle, makes a handy +spoon. Laurenco de Gama demands one or two of these inexpensive spoons +to complete the furnishing of my kitchen. As for the obstinate casing +that wraps the coconut shell, it is an article of commerce. It must +first be soaked for some months in a pit on the slimy bank of the +backwater, until all the stuff that holds it together in a stiff and +obdurate mass has rotted away and set free those hard and smooth fibres +which nothing can rot. These, when thoroughly purged of the foul black +pollution in which they have sweltered so long, will go out to all +quarters of the world under the name of "coir" to make indestructible +door mats and other indispensable things. It will penetrate to every +corner of India in which a white man lives, to mat his verandahs and +stuff his mattresses. + +And who shall recount a tithe of its other uses? Of course, the nude man +under the coconut tree knows nothing of all this. He does without a +mattress, and has no use for a door mat. But he cannot do without +cordage, and if you took from him his coconut fibre, life would almost +stop. Wherewith would he bind the rafters of his hut to the beams, or +tether the cow, or let down the bucket into the well? What would all the +boats do that traverse the backwater, or lie at anchor in the bay, or +line the sandy beach? From the cable of the great pattimar, now getting +under weigh for the Persian Gulf with a cargo of coconuts, to the +painter of the dugout, "hodee," every yard of cordage about them is made +of imperishable coir. + +When the axe is at last laid to the old coconut tree, a beam will fall +to the earth sixty feet in length, hard as teak and already rounded and +smoothed. True, you cannot saw it into planks, but no one will complain +of that in a village which does not own a saw. It cleaves readily enough +and straightly, forming long troughs most useful for leading water from +the well to the plantation and for many other purposes. It can also be +chopped into lengths suitable for the ridge poles of the hut, or for +bridges to span the deep ditches which drain the rice fields or feed the +salt pans. When out in quest of snipe I have sometimes had to choose +between crossing by one of those bridges, innocent of even a handrail, +and wading through the black slough of despond which it spanned. +Choosing neither, I went home, but the "Kolee" and the "Agree" trip over +them like birds, balancing household chattels on their steady heads. + +We must not think, however, of the trunk as, at the best, anything more +than a by-product of the coconut tree, whose head is more than its body. +Even while it lives its head is shorn once a year, for, as fresh fronds +push out and upward from the centre, those of the outer circle get old +and must be cut away. And when one of those feathery, fern-like fronds, +toying with the breeze, comes crashing to the ground, it is ten or +twelve feet long, and consists of a great backbone, as thick at the base +as a man's leg, with a close-set row of swords on either side, about a +yard in length. They are hard and tough, but supple yet and of a shiny +green colour; but they will turn to brown as they wither. + +Now observe that this gigantic, unmanageable-looking leaf, like +everything else about the coconut tree, is almost a ready-made article, +demanding no machinery to turn it to account, except the "koita" which +hangs ever ready from the nude man's girdle. With it he will cleave the +backbone lengthwise, and then, taking each half separately, he will +simply twist backwards every second sword and plait them all into a mat +two feet wide, eight or ten feet long, and firmly bounded and held +together on one side by the unbreakable backbone. This is a "jaolee," +lighter than slates, or tiles, and more handy than any form of thatch. +You have just to arrange your "jaolees" neatly on your bamboo frame, +each overlapping the one below it, then tie them securely in their +places with coir rope and your roof is made for a year. + +There is yet another benevolence of the coconut tree which I have left +to the last, and the simple folk of whom I am trying to write with +fellow feeling would certainly have named it first. I ought to refer to +it as a curse: they, without qualm or question, call it a blessing. Let +me try to describe it dispassionately. If you wander in any palm grove +in Western India, looking upward, it will soon strike you that a large +number of the trees do not seem to bear coconuts at all, but black +earthen pots. If your visit should chance to be made early in the +morning, or late in the afternoon, the mystery will soon be revealed. +You will see a dusky, sinewy figure, not of a monkey, but of a man, +ascending and descending those trees with marvellous celerity and ease, +grasping the trunks with his hands and fitting his naked feet into +slight notches cut in them. The distance between the notches is so great +that his knee goes up to his chin at each step, but he is as supple as +he is sinewy and feels no inconvenience. For he is a Bhundaree, or +Toddy-drawer, and his forefathers have been Bhundarees since the time, I +suppose, when Manu made his immortal laws. + +His waistcloth is tightly girded about him, in his hand he carries a +broad billhook as bright and keen as a razor, and from his caudal region +depends a tail more strange than any borne by beast or reptile. It looks +like a large brown pot, constructed in the middle. It is, in fact, a +large gourd, or calabash, hanging by a hook from the climber's +waistband. When he has reached the top of a tree, he gets among the +branches and, sitting astride of one of them, proceeds to detach one of +the black pots from the stout fruit stem on which it is fastened, and +empty its contents into his tail. Then, taking his billhook, he +carefully pares the raw end of the stem, refastens the black pot in its +place and hurries down to make the ascent of another tree, and so on +until his tail is full of a foaming white liquor spotted with drowned +honey bees and filling the surrounding air with a rank odour of +fermentation. This liquor is "toddy." + +If I were a Darwin I would not leave that word until I had traced the +agencies which wafted it over sea and land from the shores of Hindustan +to the Scottish coast, where it first took root and, quickly adapting +itself to a strange environment, developed into a new and vigorous +species, spread like the thistle and became a national institution. At +first it was only the Briton's way of mouthing a common native word, +"tadi" (pronounced ta-dee), which meant palm juice; but it became +current in its present shape as early as 1673, when the traveller Fryer +wrote of "the natives singing and roaring all night long, being drunk +with toddy, the wine of the cocoe." About a century later Burns sang, + + The lads and lasses, blythely bent, + To mind baith saul and body, + Sit round the table, weel content, + And steer about the toddy. + +Between these I can find no vestigia, but imagination easily fills the +gap. I see a company of jovial Scots, met in Calcutta, or Surat, on St. +Andrew's Day. European wines and beer are expensive, whisky not +obtainable at all; but the skilful khansamah makes up a punch with toddy +spirit, hot water, sugar and limes, and they are "well content." After +many years I see the few of them who still survive foregathered again in +the old country, and one proposes to have a good brew of toddy for auld +lang syne. If real toddy spirit cannot be had, what of that? Whisky is +found to take very kindly to hot water and sugar and limes, and the old +folks at home and the neighbours and the minister himself pronounce a +most favourable verdict on "toddy." In short, it has come to stay. But +we must return to the liquor in the Bhundaree's gourd. It is the rich +sap which should have gone to the forming of coconuts, which is +intercepted by cutting off the point of the fruit stalk and tying on an +earthen pot. If the pot is clean, the juice, when it is taken down in +the morning, not fermented yet but just beginning to sparkle with minute +bubbles, not too sweet and not so oily as the milk of the coconut, is +nectar to a hot and thirsty soul. No summer drink have I drunk so +innocently restorative after a hot and toilsome march on a broiling May +morning. But the Bhundaree will not squander it so: he takes care not to +clean his pots, and when he takes them down in the morning the liquor is +already foaming like London stout. Not that he means to drink it +himself, for you must know that, by the rules of his caste, he is a +total abstainer, being a Bhundaree, whose function is to draw toddy, not +to drink it. This is one of those profound institutes by which the +wisdom of the ancients fenced the whole social system of this strange +land. + +But, while the Bhundaree must refuse all intoxicating drinks himself, it +is his duty to exercise a large tolerance towards those who are not so +hindered. He is, in fact, a partner in the business of Babajee, Licensed +Vendor of Fresh Toddy, towards whose spacious, open-fronted shop, +thatched with "jaolees," he now carries his gourds. There the contents +will stand, in dirty vessels and a warm place, maturing their +exhilarating qualities until the evening, when the Tam o' Shanters and +Souter Johnnies of the village begin to assemble and squat in a ring in +the open space in front. They may be Kolees, or fishermen, and Agrees, +who make salt, and aboriginal Katkurrees from the jungle, with their +bows and arrows, most bibulous of all, but among them all there will be +no Bhundaree. Babajee sits apart, presiding and serving, beside a dirty +table, on which are many bottles and dirty tumblers of patterns which +were on our tables thirty years ago. The assembly begins solemnly, +discussing social problems and bartering village gossip, for the Hindu +is by nature staid. After a while, at the second bottle perhaps, +cheerfulness will supervene, then mirth and garrulity, ending, as the +night closes round, with wordy contention and a general brawl. But +nothing serious will happen, for toddy, though decidedly heady, is at +the worst a thin potation. A strong and very pure spirit is distilled +from it, which has its devotees, but the rustic, as a rule, prefers +quantity to quality. We are often told that the British Government +taught the people of India to drink, but the scene that I have tried to +describe is indigenous conviviality, much older than any European +connection with the country. + +Is it any wonder that the coconut has become an emblem of fertility and +prosperity and all good luck? When a new house is building you will see +a high pole over the doorway, bearing coconuts at the top, with an +umbrella spread over them. Do not ask the owner the meaning of the sign, +for he does not know. He does not think about such matters, but he feels +about them and he knows that that is the right thing to do. Besides, he +might ask you why you nail a horseshoe over your door. The difference +between us and him is that we do such things in jest, no longer +believing in them. They are the husks of a dead faith with us. But the +Hindu's faith is very living still. So, when he breaks a coconut at the +launching of a pattimar, he is a gainer in hope, if nothing else; while +we squander our champagne and gain nothing. That nut follows him even to +the grave, or burning ground, with mystic significances which I cannot +explain. I have been told that, when a very holy man dies, who always +clothed himself in ashes and never profaned his hands with work, his +disciples sometimes break a coconut over his head. If the spirit can +escape from the body through the sutures of the skull instead of by any +of the other orifices, it is believed to find a more direct route to +heaven, so the purpose of this ceremony may be to facilitate its exit +that way. In that case the breaking of the nut is perhaps only an +accident, due to its not being so hard as the holy man's skull. + + + + +XVI + + +THE BETEL NUT + +One half the world does not know how the other half lives. Noticing a +pot of areca nut toothpaste on a chemist's counter, I asked him what the +peculiar properties of the areca nut were--in short, what was it good +for. He replied that it was an astringent and acted beneficially on the +gums, but he had never heard that it was used for any other purpose than +the manufacture of an elegant dentifrice. I felt inclined to question +him about the camel in order to see whether he would tell me that it was +a tropical animal, chiefly noted for the fine quality of its hair, from +which artist's brushes were made. Here was a man whose special business +it is to know the properties and uses of all drugs and their action on +the human system, and he had not the faintest notion that there are +nearly 300 millions of His Majesty's subjects, and many millions more +beyond his empire, who could scarcely think of life as a thing to be +desired if they were obliged to go through it without the areca nut. For +the areca nut is the betel nut. + +In the Canarese language and the kindred dialects of Malabar it is +called by a name which is rendered as _adike_, or _adika_, in scientific +books, but would stand more chance of being correctly pronounced by the +average Englishman if it were spelled _uddiky_. The coast districts of +Canara and Malabar being famed for their betel nuts, the trade name of +the article was taken from the languages current there, and was tortured +by the Portuguese into _areca_. Over the greater part of India the +natives use the Hindustanee name _supari_, but by Englishmen it is best +known as the betel nut, because it is always found in company with the +betel leaf, with which, however, it has no more connection than +strawberries have with cream. The one is the leaf of a kind of pepper +vine, and the other is the seed, or nut, of a palm. But nature and man +have combined to marry them to one another, and it is difficult to think +of them separately. + +In life the betel vine climbs up the stem of the areca palm, and in +death the areca nut is rolled in a shroud of the betel leaf and the two +are munched together. Other things are often added to the morsel, such +as a clove, a cardamom, or a pinch of tobacco, and a small quantity of +fresh lime is indispensable. + +What is the precise nature of the consolation derived from the chewing +of this mixture it is not easy to say. Outwardly it produces effects +which are visible enough, to wit, a most copious flow of saliva, which +is dyed deep red by the juice of the nut, so that a betel nut chewer +seems to go about spitting blood all the day. As every Hindu is a betel +nut chewer, those 943,903 superficial miles of country which make up our +Indian Empire must be bespattered to a degree which it dizzies the mind +to contemplate. This is one of the difficulties of Indian +administration. In large towns and centres of business it is found +necessary to fortify the public buildings in various ways. The Custom +House in Bombay has the wall painted with dark red ochre to a height of +three or four feet from the ground. + +But these are the outward results. What is the inwardness of the thing? +In a word, why do the people chew betel nut? Surely not that they may +spit on our public buildings. That is a chance result, not sought for +and not shunned. There is, of course, some deeper reason. Early +travellers in India were much exercised about this and used to question +the people, from whom they got some curious explanations. One reports, +"They say they do it to comfort the heart, nor could live without it." +Another says, "It bites in the mouth, accords rheume, cooles the head, +strengthens the teeth and is all their phisicke." A Latin writer gets +quite eloquent. "_Ex ea mansione_"--by that chewing--he says, "mire +recreantur, et ad labores tolerandos et ad languores discutiendos." + +But the remarkable thing is that the betel nut has these effects only on +the Hindu constitution. To a European the strong, astringent taste and +penetrating odour of the betel nut are alike insufferable, and there is +no instance on record, as far as I know, of an Englishman becoming a +betel nut chewer. But wherever Hindu blood circulates, not in India +only, but all through the islands of the Malay Archipelago, as far as +the Philippines, the betel nut is an indispensable ingredient of any +life that is worth living. Mohammedanism forbids spirits and Brahminism +condemns all things that intoxicate or stupefy, but the betel nut is +like the cup that cheers yet not inebriates. No religion speaks +disrespectfully of it. It flourishes, blessed by all, and takes its +place among the institutions of civilisation. Indeed it is the chief +cement of social intercourse in a country where all ordinary +conviviality between man and man is almost strangled by the quarantine +enforced against ceremonial defilement. Friend offers friend the betel +nut box just as Scotsmen offered the snuff-box in the hearty old days +that are passing away. And all visits of ceremony, durbars, receptions, +leave-takings, and public functions of the like kind are brought to an +august close by the distribution of _pan supari_. To go through this +rite without visible repugnance is part of the training of our young +Civil Servants. When the interview or ceremony has lasted as long as it +was intended to last, there enter, with due pomp, bearers of +heavy-scented garlands, woven of jasmine and marigold, and in form like +the muffs and boas that ladies wear in winter. These are put upon the +necks and wrists of the guests in order of rank. Silver vases and +sprinklers follow, containing rose-water and attar of roses. You may +ward off the former from your person by offering your handkerchief for +it, and you may present the back of your hand for the latter, of which +one drop will be applied to your skin with a tiny silver or golden +spoon. + +Finally, when everybody is reeking with incongruous odours and trying +not to be sick, a silver tray appears with the daintiest little packets +of _pan supari_, each pinned with a clove, and every guest is expected +to transfer one to his mouth, for they have been prepared by a Brahmin +and cannot hurt the most delicate caste. To an Englishman, however, it +is now generally conceded to compromise by keeping the morsel in his +hand, as if waiting an opportunity to enjoy it more at his leisure. When +you get home your servant craves it of you and contrasts real rajah's +_pan supari_ with the stuff which the poor man gets in the bazaar. + +The chewing of betel nut requires more apparatus and makes greater +demands on a man's time and personal care than the smoking of tobacco or +any of the allied vices. To cut the nut neatly an instrument is used +like an enormous pair of nutcrackers with a sharp cutting edge. The lime +should be made from oyster shells and it must be freshly burned and +slaked. Exposure to the air soon spoils it, so a small, air-tight tin +box is required to keep it in. Lastly, the betel leaf must be fresh, +and in a hot climate green leaves do not keep their freshness without +special care. + +But the necessity for attending to all these matters no doubt adds +greatly to the interest which a chewer of _pan supari_ is able to find +in life. Moreover, his taste and wealth have scope for expression in the +elegance of his appointments, and by these you may generally judge of a +man's rank and means. A well-to-do Mahratta cartman will carry in his +waistband a sort of bijou hold-all of coloured cloth, which, when +unrolled, displays neat pockets of different forms for the leaves, +broken nuts, lime box, spices, etc.; but a native magistrate, who goes +about attended by a peon and need not carry his own things, will have a +box of polished brass, or even silver, divided into compartments. + +One may easily infer that to meet such a universal want there must be a +correspondingly great industry, and the cultivation of the betel nut is +indeed a great industry, and a most beautiful one. Surely since Adam +first began to till the ground in the sweat of his face, his children +have found no tillage so Eden-like as this. India has produced no Virgil +to take the common charms of a farmer's life and put them into immortal +song, so we search her literature in vain to learn how her simple, +rustic people feel about these things, and in what we see of their life +there is little sign that they feel about them at all; but when the +Englishman, wandering, gun in hand, up a steaming valley among +forest-clad hills, suddenly finds the path lead him into a betel nut +garden, with no wire fence, or locked gate, or inhospitable notice +threatening prosecution to trespassers, he feels as if he had entered +some region of bliss where the earthly senses are too narrow for the +delights that press for entrance to the soul. + +In the first place, the areca nut palm is almost, if not altogether, the +most graceful of all its graceful tribe. Unlike the coconut, it grows as +erect as a flagstaff, and the effect of this is increased by its extreme +slenderness, for though it may attain a height of fifty feet, its +diameter scarcely exceeds six inches. At the top of the stem there is a +sheath of polished green, from the top of which again there issues a +tuft of the most ethereal, feathery fronds, diverging and drooping with +matchless grace. Under these hang the clusters of reddish-brown nuts. + +As the areca nut will not grow except in places that are at once moist +and warm, the gardens are generally situated in narrow valleys and dells +among hills, with little streams of limpid water rippling past them or +through them. The steaming heat of such situations can only be realised +by one who has traversed them at noon in the month of May in pursuit of +sport or natural history. But the palms grow so close together that +their fronds mingle into an almost unbroken roof, through which the sun +can scarcely peep, and every air that enters there has the heat charmed +out of it, and as it wanders among the broad, aromatic leaves of the +betel vines which wreathe the pillars of that fairy hall, it is +softened with balmy moisture, and laden with fragrance and scent to woo +your senses in perfect tune with the tinkling music of the water and the +enchanting beauty of the whole scene. + +In a large hut among these shades, with bananas waving their banner +leaves over the smooth and well-swept yard in front, where the children +play, lives the family that cultivates the garden. They are a sect of +Brahmins, but very unbrahminical, unsophisticated, industrious, +temperate, kind and hospitable. Other Brahmins despise them and wish to +deny them the name, because they have soiled their priestly hands with +agriculture. But they return the contempt, and walk in the way of their +fathers, a way which leads them among the purest pleasures that this +life affords and keeps them from many of its more sordid temptations. +Perhaps the picture has its darker shades too. I have not seen them, and +why should I look for them? + +The betel nut harvest is something of the nature of an acrobatic +performance, for the crop is not on the ground, but on poles forty or +fifty feet high. This is the manner in which it is gathered. The farmer, +attended by his wife, goes out, and slipping a loose loop of rope over +his feet to keep them together, so that when he gets the trunk of a tree +between them it may fit like a wedge, he clasps one of the trees with +his hands and goes up at a surprising rate. He carries with him a long +rope, and when he reaches the top, he fastens one end of it to the +tree, and throws the other to his wife, who goes to a distance and draws +it tight. Then the man breaks off a heavy bunch of ripe nuts, and +hitching it on the rope lets it go. It shoots down with such velocity +that it would knock his wife down did she not know how to dodge it +skilfully and break its force in a bend of the rope. + +When all the bunches are on the ground, the man begins to sway his body +violently till the tender and supple palm is swinging like a pendulum +and almost striking the trees on either side. Watching his opportunity, +the man grasps one of these and transfers himself to it with the +nimbleness of a monkey. In this way he makes an aerial journey round the +garden and avoids the fatigue of climbing up and down every separate +tree. + +The gathered betel nuts soon find their way to the warehouses of fat +Bunias at the coast ports, where they are peeled and prepared and sorted +and piled in great heaps according to quality, and finally shipped in +_pattimars_ and _cotias_ and coasting steamers, and so disseminated over +the length and breadth of the land to be the comforters of poor and +rich. + +It only remains to say that the betel nut is not used in the East for +tooth-powder, though the natives believe that the practice of chewing it +saves them from toothache. When they use any dentifrice it is generally +charcoal, and their toothbrush is either the forefinger or a fibrous +stick chewed at the end till it becomes like a stiff paintbrush. But +whatever he may use for the purpose, the Hindu cleans his teeth every +morning, and that most thoroughly, before he will allow food to pass his +lips, and the whiteness and soundness of his teeth are an object of envy +to Englishmen. + + + + +XVII + + +A HINDU FESTIVAL + +Poets may sing, + + "Let the ape and tiger die," + +but they are not quite dead yet, only caged, and where is the man in +whose bosom there lurks no wish that he could open the door just once in +a way and let them have a frisk? In the East there is no hypocrisy about +the matter. The tiger's den is barred and locked, and the British +Government keeps the key, but the ape has an appointed day in the year +on which he shall have his outing. They call it the _Holi_, which is a +misnomer, for of all Hindu festivals this is the most unholy; but of +that anon. + +I asked a Brahmin what this festival commemorated, and he said he did +not know. He knew how to observe it, which was the main thing. Of +course, there is an explanation of it in Hindu mythology, which the +Brahmin ought to have known, and very probably did know, but was ashamed +to tell. But it matters little, for we may be well assured that the +explanation was invented to sanctify the festival long after the +festival itself came into vogue, as has been the case with some of our +most Christian holidays. + +The Holi comes round about the time of the vernal equinox, when victory +declares for day and warmth in its long struggle with night and cold. +Then Nature rises and shakes herself as Samson rose and shook himself +and snapped the seven new cords that bound him, as tow is snapped when +it smells the fire. Then "the wanton lapwing gets himself another +crest," and then also the young Hindu's fancy lightly turns to thoughts +of love; and so it came about quite naturally that, looking around, +among his plentiful gods, for a deity who might fitly be invited to +preside over his lusty rejoicings at this season, he pitched upon +Krishna. + +For Krishna, when he was upon this earth, was an amorous youth, and his +goings on with certain milkmaids were such as would shock Mrs. Grundy at +the present day even in India, supposing he had been only a man. But he +was a god, therefore his doing a thing made it right, and, where he +presides, his worshippers may do as he did. Consequently, man, woman and +child of every caste and grade give themselves licence, during these +days of the Holi, to act and speak in a manner that would be scandalous +at any other time of the year. + +Hindus of the better sort are beginning to be outwardly, and some of +them, I hope, inwardly, rather ashamed of this festival, and it is time +they were. Yet there is always something cheering in the sight of +untutored mirth and exuberant animal joy breaking out and triumphing +over the sadness of life and the monotony of lowly toil; and I confess +that I find a pleasing side to this festival of the Holi. I like it best +as I have seen it in a fishing village on the west coast of India. + +At first sight you would not suspect the black and brawny Koli of much +gaiety, but there is deep down in him a spring of mirth and humour +which, "when wine and free companions kindle him," can break out into +the most boisterous hilarity and jocundity and even buffoonery, throwing +aside all trammels of convention and decorum. His women folk, too, +though they do not go out of their proper place in the social system, +assert themselves vigorously within it, and are gay and vivacious and +well aware of their personal attractions. So the Koli village looks +forward to the Holi and makes timely preparation for it. + +The night before the _poornima_, or full moon, of the month Phalgoon +arrives, each trim fishing boat is stored with flowers and leafy +branches, all the flags that can be mustered and a drum; then the whole +village goes a-fishing. Next morning each housewife gets up early to +decorate her house and trick out herself and her children. For though +the Koli is the most naked of men, his whole workaday costume consisting +of one rag about equal in amplitude to half a good pocket-handkerchief, +his wife is the most dressy of women. She is always well-dressed even +on common days. The bareness of her limbs may perhaps shock our notions +of propriety at first, for, being a mud-wader of necessity, like the +stork and the heron, she girds her garments about her very tightly +indeed; but this only sets off her wonderfully erect and athletic +figure, while her well-set head looks all the nicer that it has no +covering except her own neatly-bound hair. She never draws her _saree_ +coyly over her head, like other native women, when she meets a man. On +this day there is no change in the fashion of her costume (that never +changes), but she puts on her brightest dress, blue, or red, or lemon +yellow, with all her private jewellery, and decks her hair with a small +chaplet of bright flowers. + +Her children are tricked out with more fancy. The little brown girl, who +yesterday had not one square inch of cloth on the whole of her tiny +person, comes out a _petite_ miss in a crimson bodice and a white skirt, +with her shining black hair oiled and combed and plaited and decked with +flowers, and her neck and arms and feet twinkling with ornaments. Her +brother of six or seven looks as if he were going to a fancy-dress ball +in the character of His Highness the Holkar. His small head is set in a +great three-cornered Maratha turban, and his body, a stranger to the +feel of clothes, is masked in a resplendent purple jacket. The young men +of the village, such of them as are not gone a-fishing, have donned +clean white jackets. Beyond that they will not go, contemning +effeminacy. + +About nine o'clock, when the sun is now well up, the distant sound of a +tom-tom is heard, and the first of the returning fleet of _muchwas_ +appears at the mouth of the creek. A long line of red and white flags +extends from the top of the mainyard to the helm and streamers flutter +from the mastheads. A monster bouquet of marigolds is mounted on the +bowsprit, branches of trees are stuck about in all possible situations, +and three or four large fishes hang from the bow, trailing their tails +in the water. With the exception of the man at the helm, who sits +stolid, minding his business, and one youth who plays the tom-tom, the +crew are standing in a ring, gesticulating with their arms and legs, or +waving wands and branches of trees. Some have half of their faces +smeared with red paint. If a boat passes they greet it with a shout and +a sally of wit or ribaldry. The other _muchwas_ follow close behind, +with every inch of white sail spread and all a-flutter with flags and +streamers: it would be difficult to imagine a prettier spectacle, and +the tom-toming and the happiness beaming on the faces of the crews are +almost infectious. One feels almost compelled to wave one's hat and cry, +"Hip, hip, hooray!" + +The boats come to shore, and then there ought to be a tumbling out of +the silvery harvest and a gathering of women and a strife indescribable +of shrill tongues, and then a long procession of wives and daughters +trotting to market, each balancing a great, dripping basket on her +comely head, while the husbands and fathers go home to eat and sleep. +But there is none of that to-day. The silvery harvest may go to +destruction and the husbands and fathers can do without sleep for once. +The children are taken on board in all their finery, and friends join +and musicians with their instruments. Then all sails are spread again +and the boats start for a circuit round the harbour. The wind blows +fiercely from the north, and each buoyant _muchwa_ scuds along at a +fearful pace, heeling over until the rippling water fingers the edge of +the gunwale as if it were just getting ready to leap over and take +possession. But the hilarious Koli balances himself on the sloping +thwarts and jumps and sings and claps his hands, while the pipes screech +and the drums rattle. Twice, or three times, does the whole fleet go out +over the bar and wheel and return, each boat racing to be first, with no +more sense of danger than a porpoise at play. + +At last they have had enough. The sails are furled and the boats +beached, the big fishes are taken down from the bows, and the whole +crowd, with their trophies and garlands, dance their way to the village. +There it is better that we leave them. To-night great fires will be +lighted in the middle of the main road and capacious pots of toddy will +be at hand, and every merry Koli will get hilariously drunk and do and +say things which we had better not see and hear. And the children will +look on and try to imitate their elders. And women will find it best to +keep out of the way for the sake of their pretty dresses, if there were +no better reason. For pots of water dyed crimson with _goolal_ powder +are ready, and everybody has licence to splash everybody when he gets a +chance. Any time during the next two or three days you may find your own +servants coming home dappled with red. + +So the ape has his fling. And the tiger is lurking not far behind. In +each of those fires it is the proper thing to roast a cock, throwing him +in alive. If the fire is a great one, a general village fire, then it is +still greater fun to throw in a live goat. But the worst of these +ceremonies are happily going out of fashion. For the English law is +stern, and the _sahibs_ have strange and quixotic notions about cruelty +to animals, and although they are far away on tour at this season and no +native officer would voluntarily interfere with an immemorial custom, +still the tiger walks in fear in these days and the Koli is often +content to roast a coconut as proxy for a cock or a goat. + + + + +XVIII + + +INDIAN POVERTY + +THE STANDARD OF LIVING + +When Mr. Keir Hardie was in India he satisfied himself that the standard +of living among the working classes in India has been deteriorating. +This is interesting psychologically, and one would like to know by what +means Mr. Keir Hardie attained to satisfaction on such a great and +important question. Doubtless he had the ungrudging assistance of Mr. +Chowdry. + +The poverty of India has for a good many years been a handy weapon, like +the sailor's belaying pin, for everyone who wanted to "have at" our +administration of that country; and if "a lie which is half a truth is +ever the blackest of lies," then this one must be as black as Tartarus, +for it is indubitably more than half a truth. The common field-labourer +in India is about as poor as man can be. He is very nearly as poor as a +sparrow. His hut, built by himself, is scarcely more substantial or +permanent than the sparrow's nest, and his clothing compares very +unfavourably with the sparrow's feathers. The residue of his worldly +goods consists of a few cooking pots and, it must be admitted, a few +ornaments on his wife. + +But a sparrow is usually well fed and quite happy. It has no property +simply because it wants none. If it stored honey like the busy bee, or +nuts like the thrifty squirrel, it would be a prey to constant anxiety +and stand in hourly danger of being plundered of its possessions, and +perhaps killed for the sake of them. Therefore to speak of a Hindu's +poverty as if it certainly implied want and unhappiness is mere +misrepresentation born of ignorance. In all ages there have been men so +enamoured of the possessionless life that they have abandoned their +worldly goods and formed brotherhoods pledged to lifelong poverty. The +majority of religious beggars in India belong to brotherhoods of this +kind, and are the sturdiest and best-fed men to be seen in the country, +especially in time of famine. + +But the Hindu peasant is not a begging friar, and may be supposed to +have some share of the love of money which is common to humanity; so it +is worth while to inquire why he is normally so very poor. There are two +reasons, both of which are so obvious and have so often been pointed out +by those who have known him best, that there is little excuse for +overlooking them. The first of them is thus stated in Tennant's _Indian +Recreations_, written in 1797, before British rule had affected the +people of India much in one direction or another. "Industry can hardly +be ranked among their virtues. Among all classes it is necessity of +subsistence and not choice that urges to labour; a native will not earn +six rupees a month by working a few hours more, if he can live upon +three; and if he has three he will not work at all," Such was the Hindu +a century ago in the eyes of an observant and judicious man, studying +him with all the sympathetic interest of novelty, and such he is now. + +The other reason for the chronic poverty of the Indian peasant is that, +if he had money beyond his immediate necessity, he could not keep it. It +is the despair of the Government of India and of every English official +who endeavours to improve his condition that he cannot keep his land, or +his cattle, or anything else on which his permanent welfare depends. The +following extract from _The Reminiscences of an Indian Police Official_ +gives a lively picture of the effect of unaccustomed wealth, not on +peasants, but on farmers owning land and cattle and used to something +like comfort. + +"Yellapa, like all cotton growers in that part of the Western +Presidency, profited enormously by the high price of the staple during +the American war. Silver was poured into the country (literally) in +_crores_ (millions sterling), and cultivators who previously had as much +as they could do to live, suddenly found themselves possessed of sums +their imagination had never dreamt of. What to do with their wealth, how +to spend their cash was their problem. Having laden their women and +children with ornaments, and decked them out in expensive _sarees_, they +launched into the wildest extravagance in the matter of carts and +trotting bullocks, going even as far as silver-plated yokes and harness +studded with silver mountings. Even silver tyres to the wheels became +the fashion. Twelve and fifteen rupees were eagerly paid for a pair of +trotting bullocks. Trotting matches for large stakes were common; and +the whole rural population appeared with expensive red silk umbrellas, +which an enterprising English firm imported as likely to gratify the +general taste for display. Many took to drink, not country liquors such +as had satisfied them previously, but British brandy, rum, gin, and even +champagne." + +A few pages further on the author tells us of the ruin by debt and +drunkenness of the families which had indulged in these extravagances. +The fact is that to keep for to-morrow what is in the hand to-day +demands imagination, purpose and self-discipline, which the Hindu +working man has not. He is the product of centuries, during which his +rulers made the life of to-morrow too uncertain, while his climate made +the life of to-day too easy. No outward applications will alone cure his +poverty, because it is a symptom of an inward disease. + +When a healthier state of mind shall awaken an appetite for comforts and +conveniences, and create necessities unknown to his fathers, then +degrading poverty will no longer be possible as the common lot. And it +was to be hoped that the British rule would in time have this happy +effect. Tennant evidently thought that it had begun to do so even in his +day. "The existence," he says, "of a regular British Government is but a +recent circumstance; yet in the course of a few years complete security +has been afforded to all of its dependants; many new manufactures have +been established, many more have been extended to answer the demands of +a larger exportation. We have therefore conferred upon our Asiatic +subjects an increase of security, of industry and of produce, and of +consequent greater means of enjoyment." + +It is therefore a very grave charge that Mr. Keir Hardie brings against +the British Administration when he says, a century after these words +were written, that the standard of living among the Hindu peasantry has +deteriorated. Happily there does not appear to have been a close +relation between facts and Mr. Keir Hardie's conclusions during his +Indian tour, so we may continue to put our confidence in the many +hopeful indications that exist of a distinct improvement in the ideal of +life which has so long prevailed among our poor Indian fellow-subjects. +The rise in the wages of both skilled and unskilled labour during even +the last thirty years, especially in and near important towns, has been +most remarkable. + +It is more to the point to know what the labourer is able to do and +actually does with his wages, and here the returns of trade and the +reports of the railway companies, post office and savings bank have +striking evidence to offer. They are published annually, and anyone, +even Mr. Keir Hardie, may consult them who likes his facts in +statistical form. For those who live in India there are abundant +evidences with more colour in them. Some thirty years ago, or more, +there was a steamship company in Bombay owning two small steamers which +carried passengers across the harbour. By degrees it extended its +operations and increased its fleet until it had a daily service of fast +steamers, with accommodation for nearly a thousand third-class +passengers, which went down the coast as far as Goa, calling at every +petty port on the way. The head of the firm retired some years ago, +having made his pile. Seldom has a more profitable enterprise been +started in Bombay. And whence did the profits come? From the pockets of +Hindu peasants. The Mahrattas of the Ratnagiri District supply most of +the "labour" required in Bombay, and for these the company spread its +nets. And by their incessant coming and going it amassed its wealth. + +Heads of mercantile firms and Government offices, and all who have to +deal with the Mahratta "puttiwala," viewed its success without surprise. +Though always grumbling at his wages, he never appears to be without the +means and the will to travel. A marriage, a religious ceremony in his +family, or the death of some relative, requires his immediate presence +in his village, and he asks for leave. If he cannot get it otherwise, he +offers to forfeit his pay for the period. If it is still refused, he +resigns his situation and goes. This does not indicate pinching poverty; +there must be some margin between such men and starvation. And a saunter +through their villages will amply confirm such a surmise. + +It is no uncommon thing in these coast villages to see that foreign +luxury, a chair, perhaps even an easy-chair, in the verandah of a common +Bhundaree (toddy-drawer). The rapidly growing use of chairs, glass +tumblers, enamelled ironware, soda-water and lemonade, patent medicines, +and even cheap watches, declares plainly that the young Hindu of the +present day does not live as his fathers did. Men go better dressed, and +their children are clothed at an earlier age. The advertisements in +vernacular languages that one meets with, circulated and posted up in +all sorts of places, tell the same tale convincingly; for the advertiser +knows his business, and will not angle where no fish rise. + +Nor are large towns like Bombay the only places where the Hindu peasant +widens his horizon and acquires new tastes. In the Fiji Islands there +are about 22,000 natives of India who went out as indentured coolies +with the option of returning at the end of five years at their own +expense, or after ten years at that of Government. When these men come +home, they bring with them new tastes and new ideas, as well as the +habit of saving money and thousands of rupees saved during their short +exile. In Mauritius and South Africa the Hindu working man is learning +the same lessons. When he gets back to the sleepy life of his native +village, he is not likely to settle down contentedly at the level from +which he started. + +On every hand, in short, forces are at work stirring discontent in the +breasts of the younger generation with the existence which was the +heritage of their fathers. These forces operate from the outside, and +the mass is large and very inert: it would be rash to say that in the +heart of it there are not still millions who regard a monotonous +struggle for a bare existence as their portion from Providence. But when +a man who has travelled in India for half a cold season tells us that +the standard of living in India has deteriorated, we are tempted to +quote from Sir Ali Baba: "What is it that these travelling people put on +paper? Let me put it in the form of a conundrum. Q. What is it that the +travelling M.P. treasures up and the Anglo-Indian hastens to throw away? +A. Erroneous hazy, distorted impressions." "One of the most serious +duties attending a residence in India is the correcting of those +misapprehensions which your travelling M.P. sacrifices his bath to +hustle upon paper." + + + + +XIX + + +BORROWED INDIAN WORDS + +Of the results of the Roman supremacy in Britain none have been so +permanent as their influence on our language. No doubt this was less due +to any direct effect that their residence among the Britons had at the +time on vernacular speech than to the fact that, for many centuries +after their departure, Latin was the language, throughout Europe, of +literature and scholarship. Our supremacy in India is acting on the +languages of that country in both ways, and though it has scarcely +lasted half as long yet as the Roman rule in Britain, English already +bids fair to become one day the common tongue of the Hindus. But there +is also a current flowing the other way, comparatively insignificant, +but curious and interesting. + +Few persons in England are aware how often they use words of Indian +origin in common speech. In attempting to give a list of these I will +exclude the trade names of articles of Indian produce or manufacture, +which have no literary interest, and also words which indicate objects, +ideas or customs that are not English, and therefore have no English +equivalents, such as "tom-tom," "sepoy" and "suttee," I will also omit +Indian words, such as "bundobust," and "griffin," which are used by +writers like Thackeray in the same way in which French terms are +commonly introduced into English composition. + +Of course, it is not always possible to draw a hard and fast line. There +are words which first came into England as the trade names of Indian +products, but have extended their significance, or entirely changed it, +and taken a permanent place in the English language. Pepper still means +what it originally meant, but it has also become a verb. Another example +is Shawl, a word which has lost all trace of its Oriental origin. It is +a pure Hindustani word, pronounced "Shal," and indicating an article +thus described in the seventeenth century by Thevenot, as quoted in +Hobson-Jobson:--"Une Chal, qui est une maniere de toilette d'une laine +tres fine qui se fait a Cachmir." With the article to England came the +name, but soon spread itself over all fabrics worn in the same fashion, +except the Scotch plaid, which held its own. + +Somewhat similar is Calico, originally a fine cotton cloth imported from +Calicut. This place is called Calicot by the natives, and may have +dropped the final T through the influence of French dressmakers. Chintz +is another example, being the Hindustani word "cheent," which means a +spotted cotton cloth. In trade fabrics are always described in the +plural, and the Z in Chintz is no doubt a perversion, through +misunderstanding, of the terminal S. Lac is another Indian word which +has retained its own meaning, but it has gone beyond it and given rise +to a verb "to lacquer." + +With these perhaps should be mentioned Pyjamas and Shampoo, both of +which have undergone strange perversions. Pyjama is an Indian name for +loose drawers or trousers tied with a cord round the waist, such as +Mussulmans of both sexes wear. In India the Pyjama was long ago adopted, +with a loose coat to match, as a more decent and comfortable costume +than the British nightshirt, and when Anglo-Indians retired they brought +the fashion home with them, English tailors called the whole costume a +"Pyjama suit," but the second word was soon dropped and the first +improved into the plural number. + +"Shampoo" comes from a verb "champna," to press or squeeze, and the +imperative, "champo," as often happens, was the form in which it became +English. Forbes, in his _Oriental Memoirs_, writes of "the effects of +opium, champoing and other luxuries indulged in by Oriental +sensualists." When the medical profession in England began to patronise +the practice, it assumed a more dignified name, "massage," and the old +word was relegated to the hairdressers, who appropriated it to the +washing of the head, an operation with which the word has no proper +relation at all. + +There are two words of doubtful derivation, which may be mentioned in +this connection. Cot, in the sense of a light bed, or cradle, is not +much used in England, but is given in Webster's and other dictionaries, +with the same Saxon derivation, as the "cot beside the hill" which the +poet Rogers sighed for. If this is correct, then it is at least curious +that the word should have almost gone out of use in England and revived +in India from a distinct root. There it is the term in every-day use for +any rough bedstead, such as the natives sleep on and call a khat. The +average Englishman cannot aspirate a K, and never pronounces the Indian +A aright unless it is followed by an R, so khat becomes "cot" by a +process of which there are many illustrations. + +The other doubtful word mentioned above is Teapoy. It is defined in the +dictionaries as an ornamental table, with a folding top, containing +caddies for holding tea, but in India, where it is in much more general +use than it is in England, it signifies simply a light tripod table and +almost certainly comes from "teenpai" (three-foot), corresponding to +another common word, "charpai" (four-foot), which means a native +bedstead. The fact that it is sometimes spelled Tepoy confirms this, but +the other spelling is commoner, and appears to have led to its getting a +special meaning connected with tea among furniture sellers. + +Cheroot, Bangle, Curry and Kidgeree are examples of words which have +come to us with the things which they signify, and retain their meaning +though the thing itself may have undergone some change. Curry as made in +England is sometimes not recognisable by a new arrival from India, and +Kidgeree is applied to a preparation of rice and fish, whereas it means +properly a dish of rice, split peas and butter, or "ghee." Fish may be +eaten with it, but is not an ingredient of it. Bazaar may be classed +with these words, and also Polo, which is merely the name for a polo +ball in the language of one of the Himalayan tribes from whom we learned +the game. It is said to have been played in England for the first time +at Aldershot in 1871. + +More interest attaches to Gymkhana, for neither the word nor the thing +which it signifies is Indian, though both originated in India, and the +derivation of the word is unknown, though it is scarcely fifty years +old. Several hybrid derivations have been suggested, none of them +probable, and I lean to the suggestion that the starting-point of the +word may have been "jumkhana", a term which, though it is not in +Forbes's _Hindustani Dictionary,_ I have heard a native apply to a large +cotton carpet, such as native acrobats, or wrestlers, might spread when +about to give a performance. Our use of the words Arena, Stage, Boards, +Footlights, etc., shows how easily a carpet might give name to a place +of meeting for athletic exercises. + +There is another class of words which have come into England through +returned Anglo-Indians and spread by their own merit. One of these is +Loot. The dictionary says that it means "to plunder," but it holds more +than that or any equivalent English word. Perhaps it has scarcely risen +above the level of slang yet, but the phrase "to run amuck" is +classical, having been used by both Pope and Dryden. The pedantic +attempt made by some writers to change the common way of writing it +because the original Malay term is a single word, "amok," comes too late +in view of Dryden's line, + + "And runs an Indian muck at all he meets." + +Cheese, in the sense of a thing, or rather of "the very thing," must be +ranked as slang too, though very common. The slang dictionaries give +fanciful derivations from Anglo-Saxon roots, or suggest that it is a +perversion of "chose"; but it is a common Hindustani word for a thing, +and when an Englishman in India finds some article which exactly suits +his purpose and exclaims, "Ah! that's the cheese," no one needs to ask +the derivation. If it did not come to us directly from India, then it +came through the gipsies, for it is one of the many Hindustani words +which occur in their language. Another word that came from India +indirectly is Caste, but it is of Portuguese origin. The early +Portuguese writers applied it ("casta") to the hereditary division of +Hindu society, and the English adopted it. It has now become +indispensable. We have no other word that could take its place in the +lines, + + Her manners had not that repose + Which stamps the caste of Vere de Vere. + +I must close with two familiar words which have been so long with us +that few who use them ever suspect that they came from the East--namely, +Punch and Toddy. The Rev. J. Ovington, who sailed to Bombay in 1689, in +the ship that carried the glad news of the coronation of William and +Mary, tells us that, in the East India Company's chief factory at Surat, +the common table was supplied with "plenty of generous Sherash (Shiraz) +wine and arak Punch," Arrack (properly "Urk"), sometimes abbreviated to +Rack, means any distilled spirit, or essence, but is commonly used to +distinguish country liquor from imported spirits. The Company's factors +drank it because European wines and beer were at that time very +expensive in India, and to reconcile it to their palates they made it +into a brew called Punch, from the Indian word "panch," meaning five, +because it contained five ingredients--viz. arrack, hot water, limes, +sugar and spice. This was the ordinary drink of poor Englishmen in India +for a longtime, and public "Punch-houses" existed in every settlement of +the East India Company. + +Now, one of the principal substances from which country liquor is +distilled is palm juice, the native name for which, "tadee," has been +perverted into "toddy" (as in the case of "cot" above-mentioned), and +"toddy punch" meant the same thing as "arrack punch," Returning +Anglo-Indians brought the receipt for making this brew to England, and +lovers of Vanity Fair will remember how the whole course of that story +was changed by the bowl of "rack punch" which Joseph Sedley ordered at +Vauxhall, where "everybody had rack punch." How soon both the brew and +its Indian name took firm root and spread among us appears from the fact +that, at the Holy Fair described by Burns in the century before last, +the lads and lasses sit round a table and "steer about the toddy." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Concerning Animals and Other Matters +by E.H. 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