CAMP SERVANTS 



The servants of the north greatly differ from 

 those employed in the south of India. 



In the north, the majority of domestic servants 

 are Mahomedans, and, personally, I prefer these, 

 as being men possessed of far more self-respect 

 than members of the class from which the 

 servants of the south are drawn. Moreover, any 

 Mahomedans who are strict disciples of the 

 Prophet are strict teetotallers, whereas drink is a 

 terrible curse amongst the servant class in the 

 south of India. 



In the south, the majority of the domestic 

 servants are pariahs, or outcasts, the representa- 

 tives of which class in the villages have quarters 

 in a separate part thereof, are not permitted to 

 mix with the inhabitants possessed of that wonder- 

 ful Indian fetish, caste, and who are horribly 

 foul in their manner of life, not even scrupling 

 to eat domestic cattle which have died natural 

 deaths, or have succumbed to disease. A primi- 

 tive pariah will even move right out of the way, 

 should he meet a Brahmin, for fear of his very 

 shadow falling upon and polluting so holy a being. 



It is not to be wondered at, in so very con- 

 servative a country as India, that the servant 

 class, though for many generations they have 

 been domestic servants, and far too well fed to 

 hanker after diseased flesh (in the case of a large 

 number, moreover, rejoicing in the profession of 

 some form of Christianity), should, with such 

 traditions, be less self-respecting, and therefore 

 less reliable, than are Mahomedans ; and when 



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