The East Indians in the New World 



491 



their native land. The}' become planters 

 and merchants in a small way and many 

 of them leave British soil for the near-by 

 Dutch colony. 



Incomprehensible to the western mind 

 are the ways of these people. The hus- 

 band not only owns the jewelry with 

 which he decks his wife, but appoints 

 himself judge of her right to live. De- 

 fying the majesty of the law, he chops 

 off her head if she prove unfaithful, or 

 resorts to the more refined method of 

 sprinkling powdered glass in her food. 

 Mysterious deaths are of frequent oc- 

 currence and the government chemists 

 are kept busy investigating such cases. 



The women are attractive in appear- 

 ance, with appealing eyes, rounded arms, 

 and lithe bodies. It is their custom to 

 massage daily with cocoanut oil. They 

 have a passion for gaudy colors, and in 

 gala attire resemble "a flock of rain- 

 bows." 



The men are solemn-looking creatures, 

 with those all-knowing eyes of the Far 

 East, and the long-haired priests are 

 positively uncanny. In passing one of 

 these "holy men" on the highway, I in- 

 variably looked over my shoulder fur- 

 tively, expecting to see blossoming rose- 

 bushes springing out of space and lads 

 climbing skyward on invisible ladders. 



We engaged one of the magicians to 

 perform for us at our hotel, but evidently 

 he was not "the genuine article" or we 

 were so skeptical as to dispel all illusions. 

 We felt at his departure that we had not 

 received our two shillino-s' worth of 



"thrills" and that sword-swallowing de- 

 tracted from the dignity of an adept. 



The Hindus look with horror on the 

 custom of eating beef, since to them the 

 bull is sacred. Strange are the ways of 

 Fate, that these people should now be 

 ruled by a race who regard beef as the 

 important article of diet ! 



The cross of the East Indians in the 

 New World is the enforced association 

 with the Africans. These "lords of all 

 creation" look yvith contempt upon the 

 orientals. "He only a coolie man !" says 

 the lazy, ignorant negro, disgust written 

 on every line of his face. The brown 

 man — this descendant of an old and 

 proud race, who regards the negro as lit- 

 tle more than a savage — does not re- 

 taliate, but goes steadfastly on with his 

 work. 



One day I met three types on a coun- 

 try road near Georgetown — an East In- 

 dian, a negro, and a native Indian. The 

 latter was bringing from his forest home 

 into town baskets and hammocks of his 

 own manuufacture for sale at the market. 

 His dignity of bearing equaled that of 

 the one whose namesake he is, and the 

 African suffered by contrast with both. 



In associating the Hindus with life in 

 the West Indies and the Guianas, it has 

 seemed to me a strange coincidence that 

 these East Indians, whom Columbus 

 thought he had discovered, should have 

 drifted at last to the New World, to 

 mingle with the surviving American 

 aborigines, who, through the Great Ad- 

 miral's mistake, bear their name. 



GEOGRAPHICAL CONGRESS 



THE preliminary program has been 

 issued of the Ninth International 

 Geographical Congress, which will be 

 held at Geneva, Switzerland, July 27 to 

 August 6, 1908. The Congress is under 

 the auspices of the Geographical Society 

 cf Geneva, which at the same time cele- 

 brates the fiftieth anniversary of its 

 founding. The Honorary Presidents of 

 the Congress are the President of the 

 Swiss Republic, the President of the Fed- 



eral Council and of the Canton of Geneva, 

 the King of Belgium, and the King of 

 Roumania. The President of the Con- 

 gress will be Dr Arthur de Claparede, 

 President of the Geographical Society of 

 Geneva. The committee in charge re- 

 quests that all papers to be submitted to 

 the Congress be handed in by November 

 I, 1907. A series of interesting excur- 

 sions to different parts of Switzerland is 

 being arranged under the auspices of the 

 Conarress. 



