WOMEN OF ALL NATIONS 



61 



the lower lids to heighten their beauty. 

 Her lips are reddened, and her skin, 

 from seclusion and the use of cosmetic 

 oils, is as smooth and soft as satin. 



Of a different type altogether are the 

 Marwari ladies (see page 53). The 

 Marwari is a merchant and money- 

 lender, known as a bunnia. He is a 

 dealer in corn, in which commodity he 

 makes "corners." The jewels worn by 

 the women indicate the lucrativeness of 

 the trade. There are bunnias all over 

 India, and the trade is not confined to 

 one caste. By religion the Marwaris who 

 come from Marwar and Guzerat are 

 Jains. The Jains of the present day 

 venerate the cow, employ Brahmans in 

 their religious rites, and worship at 

 Hindu temples. In some of its features 

 Jainism bears a resemblance to Bud- 

 dhism, but it rejects the doctrine of Nir- 

 vana. The preservation of life in every 

 form is an article of the faith. It has 

 led to the establishment of animal hos- 

 pitals called pinjrapoles. The unfortu- 

 nate creatures that find an asylum in 

 these institutions would be happier dead. 

 They are ill-fed and ill-cared for. 



Particularly striking, says E. A. Craw- 

 ford, are the women of Ceylon. Most 

 travelers east of Suez touch at Colombo, 

 and are more or less familiar with the 

 brown faces, regular features, and deftlv 

 coiled long hair of the crowds thronging 

 its quays and streets. Perhaps many 

 also have shared the mistake of the 

 English lady who wondered why so 

 many more women than men walked 

 abroad in this Oriental city. She soon 

 discovered that the round tortoise-shell 

 comb, to us reminiscent of little girls of 

 mid-Victorian period, is reserved exclu- 

 sively for male persons, • and that the 

 adornment of long hair and petticoats is 

 shared by men with the gentler sex. So. 

 of the seeming feminine crowd, maybe 

 all are males. 



The immigrant Tamils, especially on 

 the up-country tea estates and south and 



west of Ceylon, are of the coolie caste, 

 so that few Tamil ladies are usually met 

 with. There are, however, some who, in 

 good looks, charm of manner, and educa- 

 tion, need not fear comparison with their 

 European sisters. Their dress is rich and 

 effective, and they are loaded with costly 

 ornaments in their ears, round their neck, 

 in their hair, and across the forehead, 

 and also round their arms, wrists, and 

 slim ankles. The toes, too, are decorated 

 with rings, and the wing of the nostril 

 is pierced to receive a jewel. 



Amongst the population of immigrant 

 Tamils who cultivate tea and other prod- 

 ucts in the hill country of Ceylon, large 

 numbers of women and children of the 

 coolie caste are employed chiefly to pluck 

 the leaf and care for the bushes. One 

 sees them dotted over the steep hillsides 

 during the sunny hours, each with a large 

 but light basket strapped to the back. 

 The mothers arrive on the field with 

 their babe across their hips, and, leaving 

 them to slumber or kick about, innocent 

 of garments, under the shade of a tea- 

 bush near, proceed to fill their baskets 

 with the glossy leaves. 



The Tamil mother brings her elder 

 children to help in the plucking, and all 

 day the family is out of doors, happy 

 in the fragrant sunshine. It is an exist- 

 ence that may well be envied by strug- 

 gling workers in murky cities. Perfect 

 air, congenial labor, and freedom from 

 care, on five shillings a week for a pater- 

 familias ! 



Ceylon is a kind of El Dorado to the 

 dense population of the southern part of 

 the Madras Presidency, whence the cool- 

 ies (or laborers) arrive in crowds, often 

 miserably emaciated. They soon fatten 

 on prosperous Ceylon, and invariablv re- 

 turn to their "coast," as they call the 

 continent of India, in better circum- 

 stances, and not seldom purchase the 

 coveted bit of land which is the summit 

 of their ambition. 



