150 OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. 



Indians and blacks, who look to the magistrate as a sort of 

 all powerful father to whom they bring troubles of every 

 conceivable kind. 



As we were sitting at breakfast one day an aged coolie man 

 was seen hanging around the door. He must see Mr. King 

 on a most important matter, which proved to be a delicate 

 one indeed. His wife had fallen in love with another man and 

 what was he to do ? Such troubles are very common among 

 the coolies. Instead of avenging himself upon the man who 

 dared to alienate his wife's affections, the coolie invariably 

 murders his wife, the favorite method being to chop her up 

 " particularly small." 



In this instance the wife was young and good looking, and 

 her grievance was that her husband expected her to assume 

 the entire support of him and his family, and she declared 

 she would rather die than go back to him. The only solu- 

 tion of the problem was to hurry the woman off on the after- 

 noon boat to Georgetown, in order to save her from murder 

 and her husband from execution. 



They are all very fond of bringing their wrongs into court. 

 An irate Indian woman will appear, bringing a charge against 

 the dressmaker who has made her wedding dress too short. 

 Dress of any description is the most recent of acquisitions 

 with the Indian woman, but having acquired it she intends 

 that her wedding gown shall fulfill all the requirements of 

 Dame Fashion, so far as she knows them. 



The gown in question has been brought into court as 

 incontrovertible evidence. Should she not put it on and 

 prove to the magistrate, who cries in despair that he knows 

 nothing of the proper length of wedding gowns and calls 

 in another dressmaker for expert opinion. The two dress- 

 makers stand together and the case is dismissed. This is 

 quoted to show the infinite patience with which the magis- 

 trate treats each case, however trivial. 



