168 IN THE SWAMPS 



The standing of these men is nothing less than 

 remarkable. Their word is literally as good as 

 their bond. They borrow from banking institu- 

 tions without security; and if they fail honestly 

 the chitty caste make good to their creditors; if 

 their affairs are irregular they are driven from 

 the caste and disgraced for life. 



It was while I was studying the chitties that 

 I engaged Cheeta, altogether the most remark- 

 able and the most useful servant I ever employed. 

 Apparently there was no office, from body ser- 

 vant to dhobi (washerman), which he had not 

 filled, and filled creditably, regardless of caste 

 traditions and restrictions. He was really in dis- 

 repute among his own people for having pro- 

 fessed Christianity ; but this, he informed me, did 

 not disturb him, as his dearest ambition was to 

 save his earnings and finally become a money- 

 lender himself. I had originally picked him up 

 in front of the Chitty Temple on Tank Eoad, Sing- 

 apore—there is a temple for every trade or caste 

 in the town— which Cheeta haunted with a view to 

 picking up jobs from visiting foreigners, and, no 

 doubt, in the thought of fraternizing with the caste 

 to which he aspired ; though how Cheeta proposed 

 breaking all the traditions of his people by going 

 from one caste to another I can not say: the work- 

 ings of the Oriental mind are much too intricate 



