MFK ON A CKYLON TEA rhANTATION 2r. 



it there has been rcvcalixl a Rtago that i.s throngocl 

 with men. women and chiltiren in fancy drctw attire. 

 The sun has risen just as we have eonu- in sight of the 

 muster-ground. Tlie Tamil crowd, that ha^ collcetotl 

 on a tablehuid jilatform, coiisista of bare-footed 

 figures, who.'*e brown l)odics are scnii-<lad in l)right 

 re<l, green, bhie, or yellow draperies ; a few bits of 

 white clothing — here some man with a white loin 

 cloth, another with a length of white cotton stufT 

 hanging skirt-wij«e from his waist, another with a 

 white ken hief knotted about his head — emphasize the 

 •^'orgeousnesa of the colour display. You begin to feel 

 that this must be a holiday crowd, that all these people 

 must be going for a picnic ; and you cannt)t quite get 

 rid of this idea even though you hear a very business- 

 like-looking Knglishman calling the roll from the steps 

 of a very businesslike - looking building. When, 

 presently, you see these folk on yonder hills, you will 

 tind that those big baskets, which so many of them 

 are carrying, are not luncheon-baskets ; that the glad 

 rags and jewels they are wearing have not been put 

 on in honour of a holiday ; that the leisurely way in 

 which they move off when they have answered to their 

 names dt)es not betoken a leisure day ahead. Never- 

 theless, when you have actually scimi these people at 

 w(irk, you will feel that your first impression of what 

 the day had in .""tore for them wa,s after all not verj' de- 

 ceptive. Compare*! with a coal-mine, for instance, or 

 a city ofhce, all tea-plantations are pleasure-grounds. 

 Most of the hands are out in the o|>en all day long, and 

 their tasks are light ; and tho.se employeti in the fa<.*torie8 

 got an abundance of fresh air, are in scrupulously clean 

 surroundings, and have little or no really hard work to do. 



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