A SOCIAL ANIMAL. 
theii* place with other gangs. Then, afier they were 
paid off according to their notice, none would go, hut 
declare they all intended remaining, and so we would 
find ourselves with a double labour supply. Not much 
of this sort of thing I should think, during present 
times ! 
The cooly is a social animal : as a rule, he does not 
care for or appreciate what we call domestic privacy, 
not but that they like having a room to themselves 
or their own set, but no amount of noise or chattering 
amongst their neighbours in adjoining rooms seems to 
annoy them : they rather like it. Suppose a room 10 
or 12 feet square is allotted to a mnn, his wife, and 
a couple of children, one would be apt to fancy there 
was no spare space left, but before very long he will 
have erected in one corner a sort of cage, with sticks, 
in which, during the night, will be confined a few 
head of poultry ; in another corner will be tied up a 
pet goat, or sheep ; in the third a nasty, ugly, barking 
dog Avill be fastened u)) ; outside, in the verandah, a 
pig may be lying, and also, in some cases, a small 
cow. They say that in Ireland the criw and pig 
sometimes inhabit the same room as its huiuan occu- 
pant, but the coolies are rarely so bad as this. They 
always were very fond of keeping pigs, so long as the 
master whshed or took no notice about keeping them 
up, until the pigs became too numerous and mischiev- 
ous, whm we would issue an order that all pigs seen 
running about the lines and coffee would be shot. This 
order the cooly would probably take no notice of. 
He reasoned, and very likely with some measure of 
truth, that master was too kind and considerate ; it 
was only a threat, a threat that often before bad been 
threatened, but ne\"er put into execution. He pesumed, 
as they always do, upon former forgiveness : hence the 
importance of always keeping your word with the cooly, 
Take care what you say, or how you issue an order 
if you are not firmly determined to act up to it. In 
a moment of great irritation, on finding a pig had 
wandered up to our very bungalow, and grubbing away 
amongst the attempt at flowers in front of the house, 
we would seize hold of a gun, and lay the invader low. 
We were not to blame: we had often gn^en forth warn- 
ing, notwithstanding v^^hich a pang of remoi se would 
seize us as we sorrowfully surveyed the poor fellows 
carrying ofl the carcass, without a word of complaint, 
probably with an apology, which just increased our 
self-reproach, that the pig had, unknown to them, broken 
out of its sty. The plan we subsequently adopted is 
the best : never allow coolies to keep pigs, or at all 
events, unless the master builds proper pig-sties, they 
will not do so. A very good plan is foran estate to 
p 
