Coolies. 65 



notwithstanding the high wages they are willing 

 to pay, is partly due, no doubt, to the easy-going 

 disinclination of Asiatics of the lower orders to 

 engage in permanent hard labour, and partly to 

 the universal cheapness of food. In 1826, it was 

 calculated a family of five persons in the Bombay 

 Presidency, could live comfortably for one month 

 on a sum not exceeding two rupees, eight annas, of 

 say for about one shilling per head, and although 

 this is hardly the case now, I have nevertheless 

 calculated that a coolie in Ceylon can easily feed 

 and clothe himself on less than two-thirds of his 

 earnings, and a coolie in the Southern India 

 districts on less than one-third. Such being the 

 case, and having regard to native character and 

 temperament, it is not very surprising that the 

 labouring classes should be somewhat indifferent to 

 the openings for money-making offered to them in 

 return for tolerably hard work in the coffee dis- 

 tricts ; or that those of them who have been in- 

 duced to give their services should, in large numbers 

 of cases, be willing only to reside on the planta- 

 tions for short periods. Coolies, in fact, have no 

 ambition, and as a rule but little desire for wealth. 

 So that their wants from day to day are supplied, 

 and provided they have a few rupees to take home 

 to their villages, they care for no more why 

 should they ? Of course there are exceptions ; 



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