NOTICES TO LEAVE. 
lines and spread all over the thatch, looking very 
picturesque in its way, hut eventually rotting all the 
thatch. It will send out runners into the coffee and 
completely cover up and smother a number of coffee 
trees, the somewhat ludicrous sight sometimes presenting 
itself of a large round pumpkin as big as one’s 
head growing, or rather seeming to grow, on the 
top of a coffee bush. We would then, as in the 
case of the gardens, make a raid on the pumpkins, 
and commence tearing them up, or off the coffee, the 
owner sometimes looking on speechlessly sad ; at other 
times, with a loud wail, he or she would come rushing 
up, prostrate themselves in front, and entreat “ the 
protector of the poor,” ‘‘the friend of the miserable,” 
to have compassion, and spare that pumpkin, and 
they would be careful, and there would be no more 
complaints, they would keep their garden properly, 
which they did until the next complaint. Another in- 
tlucement for us to bear with the coolies in their gardens 
was, we found it was generally the industrious hard- 
working useful fellows that had them. After work- 
ing hours, and on a Sunday, instead of going about 
idling their time, and getting into all sorts of mis- 
chief, they would be quitely working in their small 
patches of garden. Besides, it was a sure sign, when 
a cooly took to gardening, that he was satisfied with 
the master and estate, and intended remaining in the em- 
ployment. When about the time of giving notice to leave 
t he estate, we used to have a good idea of who were going 
or staying, by the condition of the small gardens. It 
used to b^e a very common practice, and maybe still 
is, for coolies to give false notices to leave. A day 
or two after they were paid up, or off, they would 
come up to the bungalow, and give in their their names 
to remain : they were not going. This notice to leave 
proceeded from various reasons : first, they had their 
wages paid up, and thus had more money in hand 
to deal with as they thought fit. Again, after having 
been paid off, they would find that some of their debtors 
could not pay up that little sum due them, and 
therefore they could not go. We always knew very 
well if the cooly continued to work and keep his 
garden that he was not going away, even although 
he had given notice that he was ; and on the other 
hand, if wo saw some gardens getting out of order, weedy, 
and in an abandoned state, we had a very correct idea' 
that the owner was intending to leave, even although 
he had neither given notice nor said anything at all 
about it. We used sometimes to be very much put 
about with these notices to leave : nearly the whole 
labour force on the estate would give notice ; arrange- 
ments would be successfully entered into to fill up 
