CONSERVATORS’ WORK 139 
The opinion of Anglo-Indians must naturally vary 
as to the characteristics of their fellow-subjects, 
according to the classes with whom they come in 
contact, and to the mutual respect they bear the 
one towards the other; for to that collection of 
nations comprised in the term of India no such 
general attributes can be assigned as would be 
possible with a homogeneous population. Speaking 
of the Mohammedans of Northern India, with whom 
I have been associated during the whole of my 
service, I can testify to the good qualities they 
possess, and of these, perhaps their exceeding 
loyalty is the most conspicuous ; they have served 
me in all conditions both of ease and discomfort, 
from Kashmir to the wilds of Burma, and I have 
found them always the more cheerful as difficulties 
increased, willingly undergoing hardships similar to, 
but necessarily even more pronounced than, those 
suffered by their master. A Kashmiri or a Burman 
might desert at any moment when difficulties became 
distasteful, or even when self-interest called; but a 
Northern Indian never does before arrangements 
have been made to replace him, and his promise of 
return may be always relied upon. Perhaps we 
have been fortunate in the servants that have 
attached themselves to us, yet from other parts of 
India similar testimony will probably come from 
others whoknow better the peculiar conditions of west, 
east, and south. Thus, in Burma the Indian is in 
bad repute, for the reason, probably, that many had 
fled there on account of crimes committed at home. 
There are black sheep in every flock, but I can only 
write from personal experience. 
