Care and Upkeep 215 



quite a variety of tasks about the place, such 

 as the lighter field work, weeding, collecting 

 beetles and pests, gathering nuts, looking 

 after cattle, &c. 



It has also been found in cases where 

 only males have been brought away from their 

 homes on long contracts, that they become 

 restless and lawless, inclined to interfere with 

 the neighbouring villagers' women and girls, 

 and to give trouble generally. This invari- 

 ably leads to feuds and serious quarrels, 

 especially among Malay people, whose uncon- 

 trollable passions and jealousy are of the 

 fiercest and easy to arouse. 



Old stagers can call to mind the experience 

 of some large plantations in Sumatra, where 

 for this reason alone their very existence was 

 being threatened, until the difficulty was partly 

 solved by the introduction of Japanese women. 

 This is now no longer possible, it was a ques- 

 tionable remedy at the best, and tended to 

 lower the moral tone of all concerned ; at the 

 same time the trouble that led to the intro- 

 duction of the Japanese caused a serious crisis 

 in the history of the plantations. 



