Sept. 1, 1903.J 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
195 
The mirasidars or land boldeia find that emigration 
ie now bo general in these districts that in Negapatara 
there is actually a land holders' Anti-emigration As- 
sociation. 
The cooly is, in many oases, in debt to hia master 
but as long as he remains on the estate the amount is 
seldom worked off, and may gradually increase to 
anything from KIO to R2U. 
The recrnitiog kanganies or Agents for Cevlon or 
elsevfhere get hold of the cooly, represent to him that 
he is a slave and point out the advantages of other 
countries and induce him to bolt vrith them. 
As soon as the mirasidar hears of it he wires to the 
agent of his Association to watch the nearest ship- 
ping port or railway station and is often successful in 
getting back his man. 
. This does not apply to any great extent to Ceylon, 
where our own Kanj^anies. who know the island aud 
are more or less in touch with their relatives, in S 
India, find it to their advantage to be open in their 
dealings with their village authorities. 
The rate of commission paid to recruiters by the 
Straits for an ablebodied single and marriageable 
girls is R35 per head. No children are accepted and 
the recruiter gets his commission on presenting the 
cooly at the dep6t, in Negapatam or Madras. For 
Natal the commission is E29 for men aud R32 for 
girls, and medical examination is not so strict as for 
the Straits. Failing both, the Rangoon Companies pay 
R12 per head with few questions asked. 
In view of these large sums it is not surprising that 
the recruiting agents sail as near the wind as they 
dare. I am told that they make a clear R20 a head 
off each cooly for the Straits and Natal aud that 
after allowing a very liberal percentage for rejections. 
One other point in this connection, the cooly from 
Tnticorin to Bezwada and Madras to Cuddapah has 
heard of Natal and hates and fears the name. The 
recruiter for that country knows this and uses Ceylon 
as a bait. Wherever I was, our island had a good 
name if known at all, and it is hard that we should 
have other countries trading on it To the average 
cooly Cejlon and Natal are as adjacent districts and he 
does not discover the true state of things till too late. 
A great many coolies come to Ceylon from Trichino- 
poly district but the supply is not unlimited. From 
Tanjortf Junction to Chingleput, he would be a fool, 
indeed, who would think of emigrating to any other 
country, as this is a land flowing with milk and honey. 
Cultivation to the highest degree meets one on every 
Bide and the run is very similar to Colombo to Han- 
wella by road on a much larger scale. 
I saw a recruiter at Chingleput, who said he had 
supplied some coolies to Ceylon and the Resthouse 
book contained some well-known names in proof of 
his statements. He also showed me letters from 
Ceylon planters offering in one case R7 per head, wnd 
in another R12 per head for all coolies supplied. He 
told me it was hopeless to get coolies from Chingleput 
district, but they were to be had in Saltm. 
After a mouth's work be got me 8 coolies, pariahs, 
two of them hud been in the Wynaad and wanted to 
go back to tea-plautiug. Their village was a long way 
from Cliiuglepul and they were for the time without 
employment. 
From Madras to Bezwada the country changes com- 
pletely and there are miles and miles of sandy, scrub 
covereii tracts without a house or sign of cultivation. 
Gudnr is a lartje village in the centre of a poor popula- 
tion who find it hard to make a living, the same may 
be said of Ongole and Bapatta. These are very good 
centres and a great many labourers emigrate to other 
parts from thence. 
Bezwada itself is on the edge of an enormous 
district, the Kistna, one of the richest in all India. It 
is hopeless to thinkof getting coolies from here as there 
are large areas of irrigable land waiting for cultivators 
to take them up, There is a good sea-port within 
reach, a railway passes through the centre of it, and 
there is abundant water. The natives ore Telugua, 
fine, well-set up powerful men quite the finest men I 
saw anywhere 
From Bezwada to Gnntur district, dry cultivation 
is met with and, as we went farther West the country 
got poorer till at Phlrangepuram, 53 miles from 
Bezwada, I found, what we want, a people accustomed, 
able fud anxious to work and subject to famines. 
The country is a series of flid plains surrounded by 
steep, low rocky hills, covered with prickly pear and, 
except for wells, absolutely without water. Crops 
are cotton, cholum, chillies and ragi — all dry country 
products. There has been no monsoon here for 
six years and all the wells in one district had dried 
up except oue, fifty feet deep, which all the villagers 
near had to gu to for water. 
I was assured that there would be a famine there 
this year and from appearances one could easily 
believe it likely. Guulur is the centre of this district 
and is surrounded by such coolies. The avei age rata 
of pay for a man is 2| annas, a woman ii annaa, 
and tor that they have to woik bard all day long. I 
had great difficulty in persuading a gang to emigrate 
as they feared they were to be shipped to Natal. 
I f Dund the most powerful inducement was the promise 
that if they worked they were sure of at least one 
square meal a day. 
We started eventually and as most kanganies have 
similar experiences, they may be of interest. All 
went well till we stopped at one station to wait for a 
connecting train. Here some Natal agents got at my 
coolies and persuaded 6 of them, that Ceylon was a 
dreadful country, all going to it were treated like 
slaves or died in a few months, etc., and frightened 
them 80 much that they refused to proceed. The 
Police were uppealed to, but witPiout result. I found 
afterwards that the Police get a commission from 
these recruiters for every man they can ston in the 
trains on any pretext whatever. 
The usual way of blackmailing a gang is to ask a 
cooly who his maistri is, then to charge him with 
travelling without a ticket, boarding the train while 
in motion, or similar trifling act. Esither than be 
detained the unfortunate kangany or maistri tips the 
constable fifty cents or a rupee, only to have the same 
experience larther on. Since the kidnapping laws 
have been so strictly enforced, the favourite dodge 
is to pretend that a woman in the gang is 
being taken away against her husband's wish or ia 
under age, the demands of these sharks are limited only 
by the amount of money the cooly has on his person, 
aud he is systematically bled all tbe way down to 
Tataparai Camp. I saw clear cases of this myself and 
am prepared to give the Superintendent of Railway 
Police any further information as to dates, stations 
and names he may desire. It is scandalous and one 
of the greatbst evils our coolies have to face on their 
journey to Ceylon. 
Arrived at Tataparai the cooly is at once under the 
protecting witig of the Oeyion (iovernraeut and his 
trottbles are praoUoally at an end. 
I visited the Camp early one morning during the 
absence of the Superintendent. I h: d thus an ex- 
cellent opportunity of seeing the ordinary every day 
work of his st ff aud I can truly say that if the cooly 
complains of Tataparai he does so without cause. 
He is housed, fed like a fighting cock i^3 curries and 
as much rice as he can hold), and taken on boardship 
at Tuticorin by the Camp pcons, who look after him 
and are responsible for him until he is safely handed 
over to their friends at Ragama. If the weather be 
rough the passage is a long night of horror for the 
cooly who is, as a rule, no sailor. 
Just two words on the Cuddapah district in which 
I spent some days. Coolies were to be had in plenty, 
they were strong healthy men, of a much more 
independent class than the Telnga appears to be in 
