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 BY 
 RCJDYARD KIPLING 
 
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 £97 
 
 Southern Branch 
 of the 
 
 University of California 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Form L I 
 
 
 I
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 f 
 
 AUG 5 192f 
 OCT 9 1929 
 
 FEB. 8 1930 
 
 * MAR 1 7 te# 
 
 APR 6 J938 
 APR 1 9 1938 
 
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 fiKTD MLD 
 
 JUN 2 9/1961 
 
 OCT 16 ' 
 
 OCT Z 1944 
 OCT 2 1 1944 
 
 Form L-9-15m 11/27 
 
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 THE EYES OF ASIA
 
 Books by Rudyard Kipling 
 
 Actions and Reactions 
 
 Life's Handicap: Being 
 
 Brushwood Boy, The 
 
 Stories of Mine Own 
 
 Captains Courageous 
 
 People 
 
 Collected Verse 
 
 Light That Failed, The 
 
 Day's Work, The 
 
 Many Inventions 
 
 Departmental Ditties and 
 
 Naulahka, The (With Wol- 
 
 Ballads and Barrack- 
 
 cott Balestier) 
 
 Room Ballads 
 
 Plain Tales from the Hills 
 
 Diversity of Creatures, A 
 
 Puck of Pook's Hill 
 
 Eyes of Asia, The 
 
 Rewards and Fairies 
 
 Five Nations, The 
 
 Sea Warfare 
 
 France at War 
 
 Seven Seas, The 
 
 From Sea to Sea 
 
 Soldier Stories 
 
 History of England, A 
 
 Soldiers Three, The Story 
 
 Jungle Book, The 
 
 of the Gadsbys, and In 
 
 Jungle Book, Second 
 
 Black and White 
 
 Just So Song Book 
 
 Song of the English, A 
 
 Tust So Stories 
 
 Songs From Books 
 
 Kim 
 
 Stalky & Co. 
 
 Kipling Stories and Poems 
 
 They 
 
 Every Child Should 
 
 Traffics and Discoveries 
 
 Know 
 
 Under the Deodars, The 
 
 Kipling Birthday Book, 
 
 Phantom 'Rickshaw, and 
 
 The 
 
 Wee Willie Winkie 
 
 
 With the Night Mail
 
 THE 
 EYES OF ASIA 
 
 BY 
 
 RUDYARD KIPLING 
 
 ' 
 
 Garden City New York 
 
 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
 
 191 9
 
 Copyright, 1917, 1918, by 
 RUDYARD KIPLING 
 
 -. - ■ 
 
 •
 
 "P R 
 
 
 CONTENTS 
 A Retired Gentleman .... i 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Fumes of the Heart ... 23 
 
 The Private Account .... 47 
 
 A Trooper of Horse .... 75 
 
 3-
 
 A RETIRED GENTLEMAN
 
 A RETIRED GENTLEMAN 
 
 From Bishen Singh Saktawut, Subedar 
 Major, 215th Indurgurh [Todd's] Rajputs, 
 now at Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England, this 
 letter is sent to Madhu Singh, Sazvant, 
 Risaldar Major [retired] 146th [Dublana] 
 Horse, on his fief which he holds under the 
 Thakore Sahib of Pech at Bukani by the 
 River, near Chiturkaira, Kotah, Rajputana, 
 written in the fifth month of the year IQ16, 
 English count. 
 
 H 
 
 .aving experienced five months of this 
 war, I became infected with fever and a 
 strong coldness of the stomach [rupture]. 
 The doctor ordered me out of it altogether. 
 They have also cut me with knives for a 
 
 [3]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 wound on my leg. It is now healed but the 
 strength is gone, and it is very frightened 
 of the ground. I have been in many 
 hospitals for a long time. At this present 
 I am living in a hospital for Indian troops 
 in a forest-reservation called "New," which 
 was established by a King's order in ages 
 past. There is no order for my return to 
 India. I do not desire it. My Regiment 
 has now gone out of France — to Egypt, or 
 Africa. My officer Sahibs are for the most 
 part dead or in hospitals. During a railway 
 journey when two people sit side by side 
 for two hours one feels the absence of the 
 other when he alights. How great then 
 was my anguish at being severed from my 
 Regiment after thirty-three years! Now, 
 however, I am finished. If I return to 
 India I cannot drill the new men between 
 my two crutches. I should subsist in my 
 village on my wound-pension among old 
 and young who have never seen war. Here 
 
 [4]
 
 A RETIRED GENTLEMAN 
 
 I have great consideration. Though I am 
 useless they are patient with me. 
 
 Having knowledge of the English tongue, 
 I am sometimes invited to interpret be- 
 tween those in the hospital for the Indian 
 troops and visitors of high position. I 
 advance eminent visitors, such as relatives 
 of Kings and Princes into the presence of 
 the Colonel Doctor Sahib. I enjoy a small 
 room apart from the hospital wards. I 
 have a servant. The Colonel Doctor Sahib 
 examines my body at certain times. I am 
 forbidden to stoop even for my crutches. 
 They are instantly restored to me by 
 orderlies and my friends among the Eng- 
 lish. I come and go at my pleasure where 
 I will, and my presence is solicited by the 
 honourable. 
 
 You say I made a mistake to join the 
 war at the end of my service? I have 
 endured five months of it. Come you out 
 and endure two and a half. You are three 
 
 [-51
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 years younger than T. Why do you sit 
 at home and drill new men? Remember: 
 
 The Brahman who steals, 
 The widow who wears ornaments, 
 The Rajput who avoids the battle, 
 Are only fit for crows' meat. 
 
 You write me that this is a war for young 
 men? The old are not entirely useless. 
 The Badshah [the King] himself gave me 
 the medal for fetching in my captain from 
 out of the wires upon my back. That work 
 caused me the coldness in my stomach. 
 Old men should not do coolie-work. Your 
 cavalry were useless in France. Infantry 
 can fight in this war — not cavalry. It is 
 as impossible for us to get out of our 
 trenches and exterminate the enemy as it 
 is for the enemy to attack us. Doubtless 
 the cavalry brigades will show what they 
 are made of in Egypt or Persia. This 
 
 [6]
 
 A RETIRED GENTLEMAN 
 
 business in France is all Artillery work and 
 mines. The blowing up of the Chitoree 
 Bastion when Arjoon went to Heaven wav- 
 ing his sword, as the song says, would not 
 be noticed in the noise of this war. 
 
 The nature of the enemy is to go to earth 
 and flood us with artillery of large weight. 
 When we were in the trenches it was a 
 burden. When we rested in the villages 
 we found great ease. As to our food, it 
 was like a bunnia's marriage-feast. Every- 
 thing given, nothing counted. Some of us 
 —especially among your cavalry — grew so 
 fat that they were compelled to wrestle 
 to keep thin. This is because there was no 
 marching. 
 
 The nature of the enemy is to commit 
 shame upon women and children, and to 
 defile the shrines of his own faith with his 
 own dung. It is done by him as a drill. We 
 believed till then they were some sort of 
 caste apart from the rest. We did not 
 
 [7]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 know they were outcaste. Now it is estab- 
 lished by the evidence of our senses. They 
 attack on all fours running like apes. 
 They are specially careful for their faces. 
 When death is certain to them they offer gifts 
 and repeat the number of their children. 
 They are very good single shots from cover. 
 
 It is the nature of the enemy to shower 
 seductions from out of their air-machines 
 on our troops in the lines. They promised 
 such as would desert that they would become 
 Rajahs among them. Some of the men went 
 over to see if this were true. No report 
 came back. In this way we cleaned out 
 five bad characters from our Company 
 exactly as it used to be in the little wars on 
 the Border. May the enemy be pleased 
 with them! No man of any caste dis- 
 graced our Regiment. 
 
 The nature of the enemy in this war is 
 like the Nat [juggler] who is compelled 
 to climb a pole for his belly's sake. If he 
 
 [8]
 
 A RETIRED GENTLEMAN 
 
 does not climb he starves. If he stops he 
 falls down. This is my thought con- 
 cerning the enemy. 
 
 Now that our troops have gone out of 
 France, the war is entirely between the 
 enemy and the English, etc., etc. Both 
 sides accordingly increased the number 
 and the size of their guns. The new 
 wounded officers in the English hospital 
 say that the battles of even yesterday are 
 not to be compared with the battle of to- 
 day. Tell this to those who have returned 
 and who boast. Only fools will desire 
 more war when this war is ended. Their 
 reward will be an instant extinction on 
 account of the innumerable quantity of 
 arms, munitions, etc., etc., which will be 
 left in the hands of the experts. Those 
 who make war henceforward will be as 
 small jackals fighting beneath the feet of 
 elephants. This Government has abun- 
 dance of material, and fresh strength is 
 
 [9]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 added every hour. Let there be no mis- 
 take. The foolish have been greatly de- 
 ceived in these matters by the nature of the 
 English which is in the highest degree de- 
 ceptive. Everything is done and spoken 
 upside-down in this country of the English. 
 He who has a thousand says: "It is but 
 a scant hundred." The possessor of palaces 
 says: "It is a hut," and the rest in pro- 
 portion. Their boast is not to boast. 
 Their greatness is to make themselves very 
 small. They draw a curtain in front of all 
 they do. It is as difficult to look upon the 
 naked face of their achievements as in our 
 country upon the faces of women. 
 
 It is not true there is no caste in England. 
 The mark of the high castes, such as Ul or 
 Baharun [Earl or Baron] is that they can 
 perform any office, such as handling the 
 dead, wounds, blood, etc., without loss of 
 caste. The Maharanee of the Nurses in 
 the English Hospital which is near our 
 
 [10]
 
 A RETIRED GENTLEMAN 
 
 Hospital is by caste Baharanee [Baroness]. 
 I resort thither daily for society and en- 
 lightenment on the habits of this people. 
 The high castes are forbidden to show 
 curiosity, appetite, or fear in public places. 
 In this respect they resemble troops on 
 parade. Their male children are beaten 
 from their ninth year to their seventeenth 
 year, by men with sticks. Their women 
 are counted equal with their men. It is 
 reckoned as disgraceful for a Baharanee 
 to show fear when lights are extinguished 
 in the hospital on account of bomb-dropping 
 air-ships, as for an Ul to avoid battle. 
 They do not blacken each other's faces by 
 loud abuse, but by jests spoken in a small 
 voice. 
 
 The nature of the young men of high 
 caste is as the nature of us Rajputs. They 
 do not use opium, but they delight in horses, 
 and sport and women, and are perpetually 
 in debt to the moneylender. They shoot 
 
 [ul
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 partridge and they are forced to ride foxes 
 because there are no wild pig here. They 
 know nothing of hawking or quail-fighting, 
 but they gamble up to the hilt on all occa- 
 sions and bear losses laughing. Their card- 
 play is called Baraich [Bridge?]. They be- 
 little their own and the achievements of 
 their friends, so long as that friend faces 
 them. In his absence they extol his deeds. 
 They are of cheerful countenance. When 
 they jest, they respect honour. It is so also 
 with their women. The Nurses in the Hospi- 
 tal of my Baharanee where I resort for soci- 
 ety jest with me as daughters with a father. 
 They say that they will be stricken with 
 grief if I return to India. They call me 
 Dada which is father also in their tongue. 
 Though I am utterly useless they are un- 
 wearied of me. They themselves hasten 
 to restore me my crutches when I let them 
 fall. None of these women lament their 
 dead openly. The eldest son of my Bahar- 
 
 [12]
 
 A RETIRED GENTLEMAN 
 
 anee at the English Hospital where I am 
 made welcome, was slain in battle. The 
 next morning after the news my Bahar- 
 anee let loose the plate-pianos [turned on 
 the gramophones] for the delectation of 
 the wounded. It comes into my mind to 
 suggest to you that our women are unable 
 to stand by themselves. 
 
 When the Badshah commanded me to his 
 Palace to receive the medal, I saw all the won- 
 ders and entertainments of the city of Lon- 
 don. There was neither trouble nor expense. 
 My Baharanee gave orders I should inhabit 
 her own house in that city. It was in reality 
 a palace filled with carpets, gilt furniture, 
 marbles, mirrors, silks, velvets, carvings, 
 etc., etc. Hot water ran in silver pipes 
 to my very bedside. The perfumed baths 
 were perpetually renewed. When it rained 
 daily I walked in a glass pavilion filled with 
 scented flowers. I inhabited here ten days. 
 Though I was utterly useless they were un- 
 
 [13]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 wearied of me. A companion was found 
 me. He was a Risaldar of Dekkani Horse, 
 a man of family, wounded in the arms. 
 We two received our medals together. 
 We saw the King's Palace, and the custom 
 of the Guard Mount in the mornings daily. 
 Their drill is like stone walls, but the 
 nature of the English music is without any 
 meaning. We two saw the great temple, 
 Seyn Pol [St. Paul's?], where their dead are. 
 It is as a country enclosed in a house. My 
 companion ascended to the very roof-top 
 and saw all the city. We are nothing beside 
 these people. We two also saw the Bird 
 Garden [Zoological Gardens] where they stu- 
 diously preserve all sorts of wild animals, even 
 down to jackals and green parrots. It is the 
 nature of the English to consider all created 
 beings as equal. The Badshah himself wears 
 khaki. His son the Shahzada is a young 
 man who inhabits the trenches except when 
 he is forbidden. He is a keen son of the sword. 
 
 [14]
 
 A RETIRED GENTLEMAN 
 
 It is true that trains run underneath the 
 city in all directions. We descended into 
 the earth upon a falling platform [lift] and 
 travelled. The stopping-places are as close 
 as beads on a thread. The doors of the 
 carriages are guarded with gates that strike 
 out sideways like cobras. Each sitter is 
 allowed a space upon a divan of yellow 
 canework. When the divans are full the 
 surplus hang from the roof by leathers. 
 Though our carriage was full, place was 
 made for us. At the end of our journey 
 the train was halted beyond its lawful 
 time that we might come forth at ease. 
 The trains were full of English soldiers. 
 All castes of the English are now soldiers. 
 They are become like us Rajputs — as 
 many people so many soldiers. 
 
 We two saw houses, shops, carriages, and 
 crowds till our souls were broken. The 
 succeeding days were as the first, without 
 intermission. We begged at last to be ex- 
 
 [iS]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 cused from the sight of the multitudes and 
 the height of the houses. 
 
 We two agreed that understanding is 
 most needful in this present age. We in 
 India must get education before all things. 
 Hereafter we Rajputs must seriously con- 
 sider our arrangements in all respects — in 
 our houses as well as in our fields, etc., etc. 
 Otherwise we become nothing. We have 
 been deceived by the nature of the English. 
 They have not at any time shown us any- 
 thing of their possessions or their per- 
 formances. We are not even children be- 
 side them. They have dealt with us as 
 though they were themselves children talk- 
 ing chotee boli [little talk]. In this manner 
 the ill-informed have been misled. Noth- 
 ing is known in India of the great strength 
 of this people. Make that perfectly clear 
 to all fools. Why should we who serve the 
 Government have the blood of the misin- 
 formed on our heads when they behave 
 
 [16]
 
 A RETIRED GENTLEMAN 
 
 foolishly ? This people have all the strength. 
 There is no reason except the nature of the 
 English that anything in their dominions 
 should stand up which has been ordered to 
 lie down. It is only their soft nature which 
 saves evil from destruction. As the saying 
 is, "We thought it was only an armed horse- 
 man. Behold, it is an elephant bearing a 
 tower!" 
 
 It is in my mind that the glory of us 
 Rajputs has become diminished since the 
 old days. In the old days, our Princesses 
 charged in battle beside their men, and the 
 name of the clans was great. Then all Raj- 
 puts were brothers and sisters. How has this 
 come about? What man of us now relies 
 upon the advice of his womenkind in any 
 matter outside? In this country and in 
 France the women understand perfectly 
 what is needful in the day of trial. They 
 say to their men: "Add to the renown 
 of your race. We will attend to the rest 
 
 [17]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 through the excellent education which this 
 just Government has caused us to receive." 
 Thus the men's hearts are lightened when 
 they go to the war. They confide securely 
 in their well educated women. How is it 
 with our horses? Shape and size from the 
 sire: temper and virtue from the dam. If 
 the mare endures thirst, the colt can run 
 without water. Man's nature also draws 
 from the spindle-side. Why have we 
 allowed forgetfulness to impair our mem- 
 ory? This was well known in the old days. 
 In this country arrangements for wash- 
 ing clothes exist in almost every house, 
 such as tubs, boards, and irons, and there 
 is a machine to squeeze water out of the 
 washed clothes. They do not conceal their 
 astonishment at our methods. Our women 
 should be taught. Only by knowledge is 
 anything achieved. Otherwise we are as 
 children running about naked under the 
 feet of grown men and women. 
 
 [18]
 
 A RETIRED GENTLEMAN 
 
 See what our women have already accom- 
 plished by education! The Thakore Sahib 
 of Philawat was refused leave from the 
 Government to go to the war, on account 
 of his youth. Yet his sister, who wedded 
 the Rana of Haliana had prepared a con- 
 tingent of infantry out of her own dower- 
 villages. They were set down in the roll 
 of the Princes' contingents as stretcher- 
 bearers: they being armed men out of the 
 desert. She sent a telegram to her brother, 
 commissioning him to go with them as 
 Captain of stretcher-bearers: he being a son 
 of the Sword for seventy generations. Thus 
 cleverly he received permission from the 
 Government to go. When they reached 
 France he stole them out of the camp, every 
 one of his sister's men, and joined himself to 
 the Rajah of Kandesur's contingent. Those 
 two boys together made their name bright 
 in the trenches. The Philawat boy was hit 
 twice arvd came to hospital here. The Govern- 
 
 [19]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 mcnt sent him a sealed letter by messenger 
 where he lay. He had great fear of it, be- 
 cause what he and Kandesur had done was 
 without orders. He expected a reprimand 
 from the Government and also from his uncle 
 because of the succession. But the letter 
 was an announcement of decoration from the 
 Shahzada himself, and when he had read it, 
 the child hid his face beneath the sheets and 
 wept for joy. I saw and heard this from 
 my very bed in the hospital. So his Mili- 
 tary Cross and the rest was due to the 
 Maharanee of Haliana, his sister. Before 
 her marriage she attended instruction in 
 England at the great school for maidens 
 called Ghatun [Girton?]. She goes unveiled 
 among Englishmen, laying hold upon her 
 husband's right arm in public assemblies in 
 open daylight. And Haliana is sunborn.* 
 Consider it! Consider it! 
 
 *The royal clans of the Rajputs derive their descent from the 
 Sun. 
 
 [20]
 
 A RETIRED GENTLEMAN 
 
 Do not be concerned if I do not return. 
 I have seen all the reports of all the arrange- 
 ments made for burial, etc., etc., in this 
 country. They are entirely in accordance 
 with our faith. My youth and old age 
 have been given to the service of the Gov- 
 ernment, and if the Government can be 
 served with the dust of my bones it is theirs. 
 Now that my boy is dead in Arabia I have 
 also withdrawn my petition to the Govern- 
 ment for a land-grant. What use? The 
 house is empty. 
 
 Man does not remain in the world 
 But his name remains. 
 Though Jam and Suliman are gone 
 Their names are not lost. 
 
 When that arrives, my Maharanee Bah- 
 aranee will despatch to you posh-free par 
 parshel-posh [post-free per parcel-post] my 
 Cross that the Badshah gave me, and a 
 letter from my Captain Sahib's Mother with 
 
 [21]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 whose brother I served when I was a man. 
 As for my debts, it does not trouble me in 
 the least that the moneylenders should 
 be so troubled about them. But for the 
 Army and the Police the people would 
 have killed all moneylenders. Give my 
 duty to the Rana of Pech, for his line were 
 my father's overlords from the first. He, 
 can hang up my sword beside my father's. 
 Do not be concerned for whatever over- 
 takes me. I have sifted the sands of 
 France: now I sift those of England. 
 Here I am held in the greatest kindness 
 and honour imaginable by all whom I 
 meet. Though I am useless as a child 
 yet they are unwearied of me. The nurses 
 in my Maharanee Baharanee's Hospital, 
 which is by day a home and a house to me, 
 minister to me as daughters to a father. 
 They run after me and rebuke me if I do 
 not wear a certain coat when it rains daily. 
 I am like a dying tree in a garden of flowers. 
 
 [22]
 
 THE FUMES OF THE HEART
 
 THE FUMES OF THE HEART 
 
 Scene. Pavilion and Dome Hospital, 
 Brighton — 191 5. 
 
 What talk is this. Doctor Sahib? This 
 Sahib says he will be my letter-writer? Just 
 as though he were a bazar letter-writer at home? 
 . . . What are the Sahib's charges? Two 
 annas? Too much! I give one. . . . No. 
 No! Sahib. You shouldn't have come down so 
 quickly. Youve forgotten, we Sikhs alzvays 
 bargain. . . . Well, one anna be it. 
 I will give a bond to pay it out of my wound- 
 pension when I get home. Sit by the side of 
 my bed. . . . 
 
 This is the trouble, Sahib. My brother who 
 holds his land and works mine, outside 
 Amritsar City, is a fool. He is older than I. 
 
 [25]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 He has done his service and got one wound 
 out of it in what they used to call war — that 
 ch ild's play in the Tirah years ago. He thinks 
 himself a soldier! But that is not his offence. 
 He sends me postcards, Sahib — scores of 
 postcards — whining about the drouth or the 
 taxes, or the crops, or our servants' pilferings 
 or some such trouble. He doesnt know what 
 trouble means. I want to tell him he is a 
 fool. . . . IF hat? True! True! One 
 can get money and land but never a new 
 brother. But for all that, he is a fool. . . . 
 Is he a good farmer? Stf-heeb! // an 
 Amritsar Sikh isn't a good farmer, a hen 
 doesnt know an egg. . . . Is he hon- 
 est? As my own pet yoke of bullocks. He 
 is only a fool. My belly is on fire now with 
 knowledge I never had before, and I wish 
 to impart it to him — to the village elders 
 — to all people. Yes, that is true, too. If 
 I keep calling him a fool, he will not gain any 
 knowledge. . . . Let me think it over on 
 
 [26]
 
 THE FUMES OF THE HEART 
 
 all sides! Aha! Now that I have a bazar- 
 writer of my own I will write a book — a very 
 book of a letter to my fool of a brother. . . . 
 And nozv we will begin. Take dozvn my words 
 from my lips to my foolish old farmer- 
 brother: — 
 
 "You will have received the notification 
 of my wounds which I took in Franceville. 
 Now that I am better of my wounds, I have 
 leisure to write with a long hand. Here 
 we have paper and ink at command. Thus 
 it is easy to let off the fumes of our hearts. 
 Send me all the news of all the crops and 
 what is being done in our village. This 
 poor parrot is always thinking of Kashmir. 
 
 "As to my own concerns, the trench in 
 which I sat was broken by a bomb-golee as 
 large as our smallest grain-chest." [He'll 
 go off and measure it at once!] " It dropped 
 out of the air. It burst, the ground was 
 opened and replaced upon seven of us. 
 
 [27]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 I and two others took wounds. Sweet- 
 meats are not distributed in war-time. 
 God permitted my soul to live, by means 
 of the doctors' strong medicines. I have 
 inhabited six hospitals before I came here 
 to England. This hospital is like a temple. 
 It is set in a garden beside the sea. We 
 lie on iron cots beneath a dome of gold and 
 colours and glittering glass work, with 
 pillars." [You know that's trite, Sahib. 
 r r e can see it — but d'you think he'll believe? 
 Never/ Never/] "Our food is cooked for 
 us according to our creeds — Sikh, or Brah- 
 min, or Mussulman and all the rest — 
 When a man dies he is also buried according 
 to his creed. Though he has been a groom 
 or a sweeper, he is buried like some great 
 land-owner. Do not let such matters trou- 
 ble you henceforth. Living or dying, all is 
 done in accordance with the ordinance of 
 our faiths. Some low-caste men, such as 
 sweepers, counting upon the ignorance 
 
 [28]
 
 THE FUMES OF THE HEART 
 
 of the doctors here make a claim to be of 
 reputable caste in order that they may 
 get consideration. If a sweeper in this hos- 
 pital says he is forbidden by his caste to 
 do certain things he is believed. He is 
 not beaten." [Now, why is that, Sahib? 
 They ought to be beaten for pretending to have 
 caste, and making a mock of the doctors. 
 I should slipper them publicly — but — Fm 
 not the Government. We will go on.] 
 
 "The English do not despise any sort of 
 work. They are of many castes, but they 
 are all one kind in this. On account of my 
 wounds, I have not yet gone abroad to see 
 English fields or towns." [It is true I have 
 been out twice in a motor-carriage. Sahib, 
 but that goes too quickly for a man to see shops, 
 let alone faces. We will not tell him thai. 
 He does not like motor-car s\ "The French 
 in Franceville work continually without rest. 
 The French and the Phlahamahnds [Flam- 
 ands] who are a caste of French, are Kings 
 
 [29]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 among cultivators. As to cultivation — " 
 [Now, I pray, Sahib, write quickly for I am 
 as full of this matter as a buffalo of water] 
 "their fields are larger than ours, without 
 any divisions, and they do not waste any- 
 thing except the width of the footpath. 
 Their land descends securely from father to 
 son upon payment of tax to the Govern- 
 ment, just as in civilized countries. I have 
 observed that they have their land always 
 at their hearts and in their mouths, just as 
 in civilized countries. They do not grow 
 more than one crop a year, but this is rec- 
 ompensed to them because their fields do 
 not need irrigation. The rain in France- 
 ville is always sure and abundant and in 
 excess. They grow all that we grow such 
 as peas, onions, garlic, spinach, beans, cab- 
 bages and wheat. They do not grow small 
 grains or millet, and their only spice is mus- 
 tard. They do not drink water, but the 
 juice of apples which they squeeze into bar-
 
 THE FUMES OF THE HEART 
 
 rels for that purpose. A full bottle is sold 
 for two pice. They do not drink milk 
 but there is abundance of it. It is all 
 cows' milk, of which they make butter in 
 a churn which is turned by a dog." [Now, 
 how shall we make my brother believe that? 
 Write it large.] "In Franceville, the dogs 
 are both courteous and industrious. They 
 
 ■i 
 
 play with the cat, they tend the sheep, 
 they churn the butter, they draw a cart and 
 guard it too. When a regiment meets a 
 flock, the dogs of their own wisdom order 
 the sheep to step to one side of the road. 
 I have often seen this." [Not one word of 
 this will he or anyone in the villages believe. 
 Sahib. What can you expect? They have 
 never even seen Lahore City! We will tell 
 him what he can understand.] "Ploughs 
 and carts are drawn by horses. Oxen are 
 not used for these purposes in these villages. 
 The field work is wholly done by old men 
 and women and children, who can all 
 
 [31]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 read and write. The young men are all 
 at the war. The war comes also to the 
 people in the villages, but they do not re- 
 gard the war because they are cultivators. 
 I have a friend among the French — an old 
 man in the village where the Regiment was 
 established, who daily fills in the holes 
 made in his fields by the enemy's shells 
 with dirt from a long-handled spade. I 
 begged him once to desist when we were to- 
 gether on this work, but he said that idle- 
 ness would cause him double work for the 
 day following. His grandchild, a very 
 small maiden, grazed a cow behind a wood 
 where the shells fell, and was killed in that 
 manner. Our Regiment was told the news 
 and they took an account of it, for she was 
 often among them, begging buttons from 
 their uniforms. She was small and full of 
 laughter, and she had learned a little of 
 our tongue." [Yes. That was a very great 
 shame. Sahib. She was the child of us alL 
 
 [32]
 
 THE FUMES OF THE HEART 
 
 We exacted a payment, but she was slain — 
 slain like a calf for no fault. A black shame! 
 . . . We will write about other matters.] 
 
 "As to cultivation, there are no words for 
 its excellence or for the industry of the 
 cultivators. They esteem manure most 
 highly. They have no need to burn cow- 
 dung for fuel. There is abundance of 
 charcoal. Thus, not irrigating nor burn- 
 ing dung for fuel, their wealth increases of 
 itself. They build their houses from an- 
 cient times round about mountainous dung- 
 heaps, upon which they throw all things in 
 season. It is a possession from father to 
 son, and increase comes forth. Owing 
 to the number of Army horses in certain 
 places there arises very much horse-dung. 
 When it is excessive, the officers cause a 
 little straw to be lit near the heaps. The 
 French and the Phlahamahnds seeing the 
 smoke, assemble with carts, crying: — 
 'What waste is this ? ' The officers reply : — 
 
 [33]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 'None will carry away this dung. There- 
 fore, we burn it.' All the cultivators then 
 entreat for leave to carry it away in their 
 carts, be it only as much as two dogs can 
 draw. By this device horse-lines are 
 cleaned. 
 
 "Listen to one little thing. The women 
 and the girls cultivate as well as the men in 
 all respects." [That is a true tale, Sahib. 
 We know — but my brother knows nothing 
 except the road to market.] "They plough 
 with two and four horses as great as hills. 
 The women of Franceville also keep the 
 accounts and the bills. They make one 
 price for everything. No second price is to 
 be obtained by any talking. They cannot 
 be cheated over the value of one grain. 
 Yet of their own will they are generous 
 beyond belief. When we come back from 
 our work in the trenches, they arise at any 
 hour and make us warm drinks of hot coffee 
 and milk and bread and butter. May God 
 
 [34]
 
 THE FUMES OF THE HEART 
 
 reward these ladies a thousand times for 
 their kindness! 
 
 "But do not throw everything upon God. 
 I desire you will get me in Amritsar City 
 a carpet, at the shop of Davee Sahai and 
 Chumba Mall — one yard in width and one 
 yard and a half in length, of good colour and 
 quality to the value of forty rupees. The 
 shop must send it with all charges paid, 
 to the address which I have had written in 
 English character on the edge of this paper. 
 She is the lady of the house in which I was 
 billeted in a village for three months. 
 Though she was advanced in years and 
 belonged to a high family, yet in the whole 
 of those three months I never saw this old 
 lady sit idle. Her three sons had gone to 
 the war. One had been killed; one was in 
 hospital, and a third, at that time, was in 
 the trenches. She did not weep nor wail 
 at the death or the sickness but accepted 
 the dispensation. During the time I was 
 
 [35 1
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 in her house, she ministered to me to such 
 an extent that I cannot adequately describe 
 her kindness. Of her own free-will she 
 washed my clothes, arranged my bed, and 
 polished my boots daily for three months. 
 She washed down my bedroom daily with 
 hot water, having herself heated it. Each 
 morning she prepared me a tray with 
 bread, butter, milk and coffee. When we 
 had to leave that village that old lady wept 
 on my shoulder. It is strange that I had 
 never seen her weep for her dead son, but 
 she wept for me. Moreover, at parting 
 she would have had me take a fi-farang [five 
 franc] note for expenses on the road." [What 
 a woman! What a woman! 1 had never be- 
 lieved such women existed in this Black Age.] 
 "If there be any doubt of the quality 
 or the colour of the carpet, ask for an 
 audience of the Doctor Linley Sahib if he 
 be still in Amritsar. He knows carpets. 
 Tell him all I have written concerning this 
 
 [36]
 
 THE FUMES OF THE HEART 
 
 old lady — may God keep her and her re- 
 maining household! — and he will advise. 
 I do not know the Doctor Sahib, but this 
 he will overlook in war-time. If the carpet 
 is even fifty rupees, I can securely pay out 
 of the monies which our lands owe me. 
 She is an old lady. It must be soft to her 
 feet, and not inclined to slide upon the 
 wooden floor. She is well-born and edu- 
 cated.' 5 [And now we will begin to enlighten 
 him and the elders!] 
 
 "We must cause our children to be 
 educated in the future. That is the opinion 
 of all the Regiment, for by education, even 
 women accomplish marvels, like the women 
 of Franceville. Get the boys and girls 
 taught to read and write well. Here teach- 
 ing is by Government order. The men 
 go to the war daily. It is the women who 
 do all the work at home, having been well 
 taught in their childhood. We have only 
 yoked one buffalo to the plough up till now. 
 
 [37 1
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 It is now time to yoke up the milch-buffaloes. 
 Tell the village elders this and exercise in- 
 fluence. " [Write that down strongly. Sahib. 
 We who have seen Franceville all know it is 
 true.] 
 
 "But as to cultivation. The methods 
 in Franceville are good. All tools are of 
 iron. They do not break. A man keeps the 
 tools he needs for his work and his repairs 
 in his house under his own hand. He has 
 not to go back to the village a mile away if 
 anything breaks. We never thought, as 
 these people do, that all repairs to tools and 
 ploughs can be done on the very spot. 
 All that is needed when a strap breaks, is 
 that each ploughman should have an awl 
 and a leather-cutter to stitch the leather. 
 How is it with us in our country? If 
 leather breaks, we farmers say that leather 
 is unclean, and we go back from the fields 
 into the village to the village cobbler that 
 he may mend it. Unclean? Do not we 
 
 [38]
 
 THE FUMES OF THE HEART 
 
 handle that same thing with the leather on 
 it after it has been repaired? Do we not 
 even drink water all day with the very 
 hand that has sweated into the leather? 
 Meantime, we have surely lost an hour or 
 two in coming and going from the fields." 
 [He will understand that. He chatters like 
 a monkey when the men waste time. But 
 the village cobbler will be very angry with me!] 
 "The people of Franceville are astonished 
 to learn that all our land is full of dogs 
 which do no work — not even to keep the 
 cattle out of the tilled fields. Among the 
 French, both men and women and little 
 children occupy themselves with work at 
 all times on the land. The children wear no 
 jewelry, but they are more beautiful than 
 I can say. It is a country where the 
 women are not veiled. Their marriage is 
 at their own choice, and takes place between 
 their twentieth and twenty-fifth year. 
 They seldom quarrel or shout out. They 
 
 [39]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 do not pilfer from each other. They do not 
 tell lies at all. When calamity overtakes 
 them there is no ceremonial of grief such 
 as tearing the hair or the like. They 
 swallow it down and endure silently. 
 Doubtless, this is the fruit of learning in 
 youth." 
 
 [Now we will have a word for our Guru at 
 home. He is a very holy man. Write 
 this carefully, Sahib.] "It is said that the 
 French worship idols. I have spoken of 
 this with my old lady and her guru [priest]. 
 It is not true in any way. There are cer- 
 tainly images in their shrines and deotas 
 [local gods] to whom they present petitions 
 as we do in our home affairs, but the 
 prayer of the heart goes to the God Him- 
 self. I have been assured this by the old 
 priests. All the young priests are fighting 
 in the war. The French men uncover the 
 head but do not take off the shoes at prayer. 
 They do not speak of their religion to 
 
 [40]
 
 THE FUMES OF THE HEART 
 
 strangers, and they do not go about to make 
 converts. The old priest in the village 
 where I was billeted so long, said that all 
 roads, at such times as these, return to 
 God." [Our Guru at home says that himself; 
 so he cannot be surprised if there are others 
 who think it.] "The old priest gave me a 
 little medal which he wished me to wear 
 round my neck. Such medals are reckoned 
 holy among the French. He was a very 
 holy man and it averts the Evil Eye. The 
 women also carry holy beads to help keep 
 count of their prayers. 
 
 "Certain men of our Regiment divided 
 among themselves as many as they could 
 pick up of the string of such beads that used 
 to be carried by the small maiden whom the 
 shell slew. It was found forty yards dis- 
 tant from the hands. It was that small 
 maiden who begged us for our buttons and 
 had no fear. The Regiment made an 
 account of it, reckoning one life of the 
 
 [41]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 enemy for each bead. They deposited 
 the beads as a pledge with the regimental 
 clerk. When a man of the guarantors be- 
 came killed, the number of his beads which 
 remained unredeemed was added to the 
 obligation of the other guarantors, or they 
 elected an inheritor of the debt in his place." 
 [He will understand that. It was all very 
 correct and business-like, Sahib. Our Pathan 
 Company arranged it.] "It was seven weeks 
 before all her beads were redeemed because 
 the weatherwas bad and our gunswerestrong 
 and the enemy did not stir abroad after 
 dark. When all the account was cleared, 
 the beads were taken out of pawn and re- 
 turned to her grandfather, with a certifi- 
 cate, and he wept. 
 
 "This war is not a war. It is a world- 
 destroying battle. All that has gone before 
 this war in this world till now has been 
 only boys throwing coloured powder at 
 each other. No man could conceive it! 
 
 [42]
 
 THE FUMES OF THE HEART 
 
 What do you or the Mohmunds or anyone 
 who has not been here know of war? 
 When the ignorant in future speak of war, 
 I shall laugh, even though they be my elder 
 brethren. Consider what things are done 
 here and for what reasons. 
 
 "A little before I took my wounds, I 
 was on duty near an officer who worked 
 in wire and wood and earth to make traps 
 for the enemy. He had acquired a tent of 
 green cloth upon sticks, with a window of 
 soft glass that could not be broken. All 
 coveted the tent. It was three paces long 
 and two wide. Among the covetous was 
 an Officer of Artillery in charge of a gun 
 that shook mountains. It gave out a 
 shell of ten maunds or more [eight hundred 
 pounds]. But those who have never seen 
 even a rivulet cannot imagine the Indus. 
 He offered many rupees to purchase the 
 tent. He would come at all hours increas- 
 ing his offer. He overwhelmed the owner 
 
 [43]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 with talk about it." [/ heard them ojten. 
 Sahib.] "At last, and I heard this also, 
 that tent-owner said to that Artillery 
 Officer: — 'I am wearied with your impor- 
 tunity. Destroy to-day a certain house 
 that I shall show you, and I will give you 
 the tent for a gift. Otherwise, have no 
 more talk.' He showed him the roof of a 
 certain white house which stood back three 
 kos [six miles] in the enemy country, a little 
 underneath a hill with woods on each side. 
 Consider this, measuring three kos in your 
 mind along the Amritsar Road. The Gun- 
 ner Officer said: — 'By God, I accept this 
 bargain.' He issued orders and estimated 
 the distance. I saw him going back and 
 forth as swiftly as a lover. Then fire was 
 delivered and at the fourth discharge the 
 watchers through their glasses saw the 
 house spring high and spread abroad and 
 lie upon its face. It was as a tooth taken 
 out by a barber. Seeing this, the Gunner 
 
 [44]
 
 THE FUMES OF THE HEART 
 
 Officer sprang into the tent and looked 
 through the window and smiled because 
 the tent was now his. But the enemy did 
 not understand the reasons. There was 
 a great gunfire all that night, as well as 
 many enemy-regiments moving about. 
 The prisoners taken afterwards told us their 
 commanders were disturbed at the fall of 
 the house, ascribing it to some great design 
 on our part, so that their men had no rest 
 for a week. Yet it was all done for a little 
 green tent's sake! 
 
 "I tell you this that you may under- 
 stand the meaning of things. This is a 
 world where the very hills are turned up- 
 side down, with the cities upon them. 
 He who comes alive out of this business 
 will forever after be as a giant. If anyone 
 wishes to see it let him come here or remain 
 disappointed all his life." 
 
 [We will finish with affection and sweet 
 words. After all, a brother is a brother] 
 
 [45 1
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 "As for myself, why do you write to me so 
 many complaints? Are you fighting in 
 this war or I? You know the saying: 
 'A soldier's life is for his family: his death 
 is for his country: his discomforts are for 
 himself alone.' I joined to fight when I 
 was young. I have eaten the Govern- 
 ment's salt till I am old. I am discharging 
 my obligation. When all is at an end, 
 the memory of our parting will be but a 
 dream. 
 
 "I pray the Guru to bring together those 
 who are separated. 
 
 "God alone is true. Everything else is 
 but a shadow." 
 
 [ That is poetry. Oh — and add this, Sahib.] 
 
 "Let there be no delay about the carpet. 
 She would not accept anything else." 
 
 [46]
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 
 
 Scene: Three and a half miles across the 
 Border — Kohat way. Time: The edge 
 of sunset. Single room in a stone built 
 tower house reached by a ladder from 
 the ground. An Afghan woman, wrap- 
 ped in a red cotton quilt, squats on the 
 floor trimming a small kerosene lamp. 
 Her husband, an elderly Afghan with a 
 purple dyed beard, lies on a native cot, 
 covered by a striped blue and white 
 cloth. He is wounded in the knee and 
 hip. A Government rifle leans against 
 the cot. Their son, aged twenty, kneels 
 beside him, unfolding a letter. As 
 the mother places the lighted lamp 
 in a recess in the wall, the son picks 
 [49]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 up the rifle and pushes the half-opened 
 door home with the butt. The wife 
 passes her husband a filled pipe of 
 tobacco, blowing on the charcoal ball 
 in the bowl. 
 
 Son [as he unfolds letter]. It is from France. 
 His Regiment is still there. 
 
 Father. What does he say about the 
 money ? 
 
 Son [reading]. He says: "I am made easy 
 by the news that you are now receiving 
 my pay-allotment regularly. You may 
 depend upon its coming every month 
 henceforward. I have also sent eleven 
 rupees over and above the allotment. 
 It is a gift towards the purchase of 
 the machine needed in your business." 
 
 Father [drawing a cheap nickel-plated re- 
 volver from his breast]. It is a good 
 machine, and he is a good son. What 
 else. 
 
 Son. He says: "You tell me our enemies 
 
 [So]
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 
 
 have killed my uncle and my brother, 
 beside wounding our father. I am very 
 far away and can give no help what- 
 ever. It is a matter for great regret. 
 Our enemies are now two lives to 
 the good against us in the account. We 
 must take our revenge quickly. The 
 responsibility, I suppose, is altogether 
 on the head of my youngest brother.'' 
 
 Father. But I am still good for sitting- 
 shots. 
 
 Mother [soothingly]. Ah! But he means, 
 to think over all the arrangements. 
 Wounded men cannot think clearly 
 till the fever is out of the wound. 
 
 Son [reading]. "My youngest brother said 
 he would enlist after me when the 
 harvest was gathered. That is now 
 out of the question. Tell him he must 
 attend to the work in hand." (That 
 is true, I cannot enlist now.) "Tell 
 him not to wander about after the 
 [Si]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 people who did the actual killing. 
 They will probably have taken refuge 
 on the Government side of the Bor- 
 der." (That is true, too. It is ex- 
 actly what they did.) " Even up the 
 account from the nearest household 
 of our enemies. This will force the 
 murderers for their honour's sake to 
 return and attend to their proper 
 business when — God willing — they can 
 be added as a bonus. Take our revenge 
 quickly." 
 
 Father [stroking beard}. This is all wis- 
 dom. I have a man for a son. What 
 else does he say, Akbar? 
 
 Son. He says: "I have a letter from 
 Kohat telling me that a certain man 
 of a family that we know is coming 
 out here with a draft in order to settle 
 with me for an account which he says 
 I opened." 
 
 Mother [quickly]. Would that be Gul 
 
 [52]
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 
 
 Shere Khan — about that Peshawari 
 girl? 
 Son. Perhaps. But Ahmed is not afraid. 
 Listen! He says: "If that man or 
 even his brothers wish to come to 
 France after me I shall be very pleased. 
 If, in fact, anyone wishes to kill me, 
 let them by all means come out. 
 I am here present in the field of battle. 
 I have placed my life on a tray. The 
 people in our country who talk about 
 killing are children. They have not 
 seen the reality of things. We do not 
 turn our heads when forty are killed 
 at a breath. Men are swallowed up or 
 blown apart here as one divides meat. 
 When we are in the trenches, there is 
 no time to strike a blow on the private 
 account. When we are at rest in the 
 villages, one's lust for killing has been 
 satisfied. Two men joined us in the 
 draft last month to look after a close 
 [53]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 friend of mine with whom they had a 
 private account. They were great 
 swash-bucklers at first. They even 
 volunteered to go into the trenches 
 though it was not their turn of duty. 
 They expected that their private ac- 
 count could be settled during some 
 battle. Since that turn of duty they 
 have become quite meek. They had, 
 till then, only seen men killed by ones 
 and twos, half a mile separating them. 
 This business was like killing flies on 
 sugar. Have no fear for me, therefore, 
 no matter who joins the Regiment. 
 It needs a very fierce stomach to add 
 anything to our Government rations." 
 
 Mother. He writes like a poet, my son. 
 That is wonderful writing. 
 
 Father. All the young men write the 
 same with regard to the war. It 
 quite satisfies all desires. What else 
 does he say? 
 
 [54]
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 
 
 Son [summarizing]. He says that he is 
 well fed and has learned to drink the 
 French coffee. He says there are two 
 sorts of French tobacco — one yellow, 
 one blue. The blue, he says, is the 
 best. They are named for the papers 
 they are wrapped in. He says that on 
 no account must we send him any 
 opium or drugs, because the punishment 
 for drugging is severe and the doctors 
 are quick to discover. He desires to be 
 sent to him some strong hair-dye of 
 the sort that our father uses. 
 
 Mother [with a gesture]. Hair-dye! He 
 is a child. What's he been doing? 
 
 Son. He says he wishes to win favour 
 from his native officer whose white 
 hairs are showing and who has no 
 proper dye. He says he will repay the 
 cost and that no charges are made 
 for the parcel. It must be very strong 
 henna-dye. 
 
 [55]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 Mother [laughing. It shall be. I will 
 make it myself. A start it gave me 
 to hear him ask for dyes! They are 
 not due for another twenty years. 
 
 Father [fretfully]. Read it. Read it all 
 as it is written, word for word. What 
 else does he say? 
 
 Son. He speaks of the country of the 
 French. Listen! He says: "This 
 country is full of precious objects, 
 such as grain, ploughs, and imple- 
 ments, and sheep which lie about the 
 fields by day with none to guard them. 
 The French are a virtuous people and 
 do not steal from each other. If a 
 man merely approaches towards any- 
 thing there are eyes watching him. 
 To take one chicken is to loosen the 
 tongues of fifty old women. I was 
 warned on joining that the testimony 
 of one such would outweigh the testi- 
 mony of six honourable Pathans. It 
 [56]
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 
 
 is true. Money and valuables are, 
 therefore, left openly in houses. None 
 dare even to look at them with a 
 covetous eye. I have seen two hun- 
 dred rupees' worth of clothing hung up 
 on a nail. None knew the owner, 
 yet it remained till her return. : 
 
 Mother. That is the country for me! 
 Dresses worth two hundred rupees 
 hangipg on nails! Princesses all they 
 must be. 
 
 Son [continuing]. Listen to these fresh 
 marvels. He says: "We reside in 
 brick houses with painted walls of 
 flowers and birds; we sit upon chairs 
 covered with silks. We sleep on high 
 beds that cost a hundred rupees each. 
 There is glass in all the doors and 
 windows; the abundance of iron and 
 brass, pottery, and copper kitchen- 
 utensils is not to be estimated. Every 
 house is a palace of entertainment 
 [57]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 filled with clocks, lamps, candlesticks, 
 gildings, and images.' 
 
 Father. What a country! What a coun- 
 try! How much will he be able to 
 bring back of it all? 
 
 Son. He says: "The inhabitants defend 
 their possessions to the uttermost — 
 even down to the value of half a 
 chicken or a sheep's kidney. They 
 do not keep their money in their 
 houses, but send it away on loan. 
 Their rates of interest are very low. 
 They talk among themselves of loans 
 and pledges and the gaining of money, 
 just as we do. We Indian troops are 
 esteemed and honoured by all, by the 
 children specially. These children 
 wear no jewelry. Therefore, there are 
 no murders committed for the sake of 
 ornaments except by the enemy. These 
 children resemble small moons. They 
 make mud figures in their play of men 
 [58]
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 
 
 and horses. He who can add figures 
 of oxen, elephants and palanquins is 
 highly praised. Do you remember 
 when I used to make them?" 
 
 Mother. Do I remember? Am I a block 
 of wood or an old churn? Go on, 
 Akbar? What of my child? 
 
 Son. He says: "When the children are 
 not in the school they are at work in the 
 fields from their earliest years. They 
 soon lose all fear of us soldiers, and 
 drill us up and down the streets of the 
 villages. The smallest salute on all 
 occasions. They suffer little from sick- 
 ness. The old women here are skilful in 
 medicines. They dry the leaves of trees 
 and give them for a drink against 
 diseases. One old woman gave me an 
 herb to chew for a worm in my tooth 
 [toothache] which cured me in an hour." 
 
 Mother. God reward that woman! I 
 wonder what she used. 
 [59]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 Son. He says: "She is my French 
 mother." 
 
 Mother. What-t! How many mothers 
 has a man? But God reward her 
 none the less! It must have been 
 that old double-tooth at the back on 
 the left lower side, for I remember — 
 
 Father. Let it wait. It is cured now. 
 What else does he write? 
 
 Son. He writes, making excuses for not 
 having written. He says: "I have 
 been so occupied and sent from one 
 place to another that on several oc- 
 casions I have missed the post. I 
 know you must have experienced anx- 
 iety. But do not be displeased. Let my 
 mother remember that I can only write 
 when I have opportunity, and the only 
 remedy for helplessness is patience." 
 
 Father [groa?iing\. Ah! He has not yet 
 been wounded, and he sets himself 
 up for a physician. 
 [60]
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 
 
 Mother. He speaks wisely and beautifully. 
 But what of his "French mother" — ■ 
 burn her! 
 
 Son. He says: "Moreover, this French 
 mother of mine in France is displeased 
 with me if I do not write to her about 
 my welfare. My mother, like you, my 
 French mother does all she can for my 
 welfare. I cannot write sufficiently 
 in praise of what she does for me. 
 When I was in the village behind the 
 trench if, on any day, by reason of 
 duty, I did not return till evening, she, 
 herself, would come in search of me and 
 lead me back to the house. 
 
 Mother. Aha! She knew! I wish I 
 could have caught him by the other 
 ear! 
 
 Son. He says: "And when I was sent 
 
 away on duty to another village, and 
 
 so could not find time to write either 
 
 to you or to her, she came close to the 
 
 [61]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 place where I was and where no one is 
 permitted to come and asked to see her 
 boy. She brought with her a great 
 parcel of things for me to eat. What 
 more am I to say for the concern she 
 has for my welfare?" 
 
 Mother. Fools all old women are! May 
 God reward that Kafir woman for her 
 kindness, and her children after her. 
 . . As though any orders could keep 
 out a mother! Does he say what she 
 resembles in the face ? 
 
 Son. No. He goes on to speak more 
 about the customs of the French. 
 He says: ''The new men who join us 
 come believing they are in the country 
 of the Rakshas [Demons]. They are 
 told this by the ignorant on their 
 departure. It is always cold here. 
 Many clothes are worn. The sun is 
 absent. The wet is present. Yet 
 this France is a country created by 
 [62]
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 
 
 Allah, and its people are manifestly a 
 reasonable people with reason for all 
 they do. The windows of their houses 
 are well barred. The doors are strong, 
 with locks of a sort I have never before 
 tried. Their dogs are faithful. They 
 gather in and keep their kine and their 
 asses and their hens under their hands 
 at night. Their cattle graze and re- 
 turn at the proper hour in charge of 
 the children. They prune their fruit 
 trees as carefully as our barbers attend 
 to men's nostrils and ears. The old 
 women spin, walking up and down. 
 Scissors, needles, threads, and buttons 
 are exposed for sale on stalls in a market. 
 They carry hens by the feet. Butchers 
 sell dressed portions of fowls and sheep 
 ready to be cooked. There is aniseed, 
 coriander, and very good garlic." 
 Mother. But all this — but all this is our 
 very own way — 
 
 [63]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 Son. He says so. He says: "Seeing 
 these things, the new men are relieved 
 in their minds. Do not be anxious 
 for me. These people precisely resem- 
 ble all mankind. They are, however, 
 idolators. They do not speak to any 
 of us about their religion. Their 
 Imams [priests] are old men of pious 
 appearance, living in poverty. They 
 go about their religious offices, even 
 while the shells fall. Their God is 
 called Bandoo [Bon Dieu?]. There is 
 also the Bibbee Miriam [the Virgin 
 Mary]. She is worshipped on ac- 
 count of the intelligence and capacity 
 of the women." 
 
 Father. Hmm! Ah! This travelling 
 about is bad for the young. Women 
 are women — world over. What else, 
 Akbar? 
 
 Son [reading]. "There are holy women in 
 this country, dressed in black who wear 
 [6 4 ]
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 
 
 horns of white cloth on their heads. 
 They too, are without any sort of fear 
 of death from the falling shells. I 
 am acquainted with one such who 
 often commands me to carry vegetables 
 from the market to the house which 
 they inhabit. It is filled with the 
 fatherless. She is very old, very high- 
 born, and of irascible temper. All 
 men call her Mother. The Colonel 
 himself salutes her. Thus are all sorts 
 mingled in this country of France." 
 
 Mother. Ha! Well, at least that holy 
 woman was well-born, but she is too 
 free with her tongue. Go on! 
 
 Son. He says: "Through my skill with 
 my rifle, I have been made a sharp- 
 shooter. A special place is given to 
 me to shoot at the enemy singly. 
 This was old work to me. This coun- 
 try was flat and open at the beginning. 
 In time it became all kandari-kauderi — 
 [6 5 ]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 cut up — with trenches, sungars and bye- 
 ways in the earth. Their faces show 
 well behind the loop-holes of their 
 sungars. The distance was less than 
 three hundred yards. Great cunning 
 was needed. Before they grew careful, 
 I accounted for nine in five days. 
 It is more difficult by night. They 
 then send up fireballs which light all 
 the ground. This is a good arrange- 
 ment to reveal one's enemy, but the 
 expense would be too great for poor 
 people." 
 
 Father. He thinks of everything — every- 
 thing! Even of the terrible cost for 
 us poor people. 
 
 Son [reading]. "I attended the funeral of 
 a certain French child. She was 
 known to us all by the name of 'Marri' 
 which is Miriam. She would openly 
 claim the Regiment for her own regi- 
 ment in the face of the Colonel walking 
 (66]
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 
 
 in the street. She was slain by a shell 
 while grazing cattle. What remained 
 was carried upon a litter precisely 
 after our custom. There were no 
 hired mourners. All mourners walked 
 slowly behind the litter, the women 
 with the men. It is not their custom to 
 scream or beat the breast. They re- 
 cite all prayers above the grave itself 
 for they reckon the burial-ground to 
 be holy. The prayers are recited by 
 the Imam of the village. The grave 
 is not bricked and there is no recess. 
 They do not know that the Two Angels 
 visit the dead. They say at the end, 
 'Peace and Mercy be on you'." 
 
 Mother. One sees as he writes! He 
 would have made a great priest, this 
 son of ours. So they pray over their 
 dead, out yonder, those foreigners ? 
 
 Father. Even a Kafir may pray, but — 
 they are manifestly Kafirs or they 
 [67]'
 
 would not |.'i<ij in a -i ive-yard. Go 
 on! 
 
 Son. "When their prayers were done, our 
 Havildar-Major, who is orthodox, re- 
 cited the appropriate verse from the 
 Koran, and cast a little mud into the 
 grave. The Imam of the village then 
 embraced him. I do not know if this 
 is the custom. The French weep very 
 little. The French women are small- 
 handed and small-footed. They bear 
 themselves in walking as though they 
 were of birth and descent. They com- 
 mune with themselves, walking up and 
 down. Their lips move. This is on 
 account of their dead. They are never 
 abashed or at a loss for words. They 
 forget nothing. Nothing either do 
 they forgive." 
 
 Mother. Good. Very good. That is the 
 right honour. 
 
 Son. Listen! He says: "Each /village 
 
 [68]
 
 keeps a vWf t&i |, ac¥£3fit of all that the 
 enemy has done against it. If a life 
 — a life, whether it be man or priest, or 
 hostage, or woman or babe. Every 
 horn driven off; and every feather; all 
 bricks and tiles broken, all things 
 burned, and their price, are written in 
 the account. The shames and the 
 insults are also written. There is no 
 price set against them." 
 
 Father. This is without flaw! This is a 
 people! There is never any price for 
 shame offered. And they write it all 
 down. Marvellous! 
 
 Son. Yes. He says: "Each village keeps 
 its own tally and all tallies go to their 
 Government to be filed. The whole 
 of the country of France is in one great 
 account against the enemy — for the 
 loss, for the lives, and for the shames 
 done. It has been kept from the first. 
 The women keep it with the men. 
 [69]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 All French women read, write, and 
 cast accounts from youth. By this 
 they are able to keep the great account 
 against the enemy. I think that it is 
 good that our girls should get schooling 
 like this. Then we shall have no more 
 confusion in our accounts. It is only 
 to add up the sums lost and the lives. 
 We should teach our girls. We are 
 fools compared with these people. " 
 
 Mother. But a Pathani girl remembers 
 without all this book-work. It is 
 waste. Who of any decent descent 
 ever forgot a blood-debt ? He must be 
 sickening for illness to write thus. 
 
 Father. One should not forget. Yet we 
 depend on songs and tales. It is more 
 secure — certainly, it is more business- 
 like — that a written account should 
 be kept. Since it is the men who must 
 pay off the debt, why should not the 
 women keep it? 
 
 [70]
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 
 
 Mother. They can keep tally on a 
 stick or a distaff. It is unnecessary 
 for a girl to scribble in books. They 
 never come to good ends. They end 
 by- 
 
 Son. Sometimes, my mother, sometimes. 
 On the Government side of the Border, 
 women are taught to read, and write, 
 and cast accounts, and — 
 
 Mother [with intention}. Far be the day 
 when such an one is brought to my 
 house as a bride. For / say — 
 
 Father. No matter. What does he say 
 about those French women? 
 
 Son. He says: "They are not divided in 
 opinion as to which of their enemies 
 shall be sought after first. They say: 
 'Let us even the account every day and 
 night out of the nearest assembly of 
 the enemy and when we have brought 
 all the enemy into the right way of 
 thinking we can demand the very 
 [71]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 people who did the shame and offences. 
 In the meantime, let it be any life.' 
 This is good counsel for us in our ac- 
 count, oh my mother." 
 
 Father [after a pause]. True! True! It 
 is good advice. Let it be any life. 
 . . . Is that all? 
 
 Son. That is all. He says : " Let it be any 
 life." And I think so too. 
 
 Mother. "Any life." Even so! And 
 then we can write to him quickly that 
 we have taken our revenge quickly. 
 [She reaches for her husband's rifle 
 which she passes over to her son, who 
 stretches his hand towards it with a 
 glance at his father.] 
 
 Father. On your head, Akbar, our ac- 
 count must lie — at least till I am 
 better. Do you try to-night? 
 
 Son. May be! I wish we had the high- 
 priced illuminating fireballs he spoke 
 of. [Half rises.] 
 
 [72]
 
 THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 
 
 Mother. Wait a little. There is the call 
 for the Ishr [the evening prayer]. 
 
 Muezzin [in the village mosque without as the 
 first stars show]. God is great! God 
 is great! God is great! I bear wit- 
 ness, etc. 
 
 [The family corn-pose themselves for evening 
 prayer.] 
 
 [73 1
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 To the sister of the pensioned Risaldar 
 Major Abdul Qadr Khan, at her own house 
 behind the shrine of Gulu Shah near by the 
 village of Korake in the Pasrur Tehsil of the 
 Sialkot District in the Province of the Punjab. 
 Sent out of the country of France on the 23rd 
 of August, IQ16, by Duffadar Abdul Rahman 
 of the 132nd (Pakpattan) Cavalry — late Lam- 
 bart's Horse. 
 
 iVl other! The news is that once only in 
 five months I have not received a letter from 
 you. My thoughts are always with you. 
 Mother, put your ear down and listen to 
 me. Do not fret; I will soon be with you 
 again. Imagine that I have merely gone to 
 
 [77]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 Lyallpur [the big recuiting-depot in India]; 
 think that I have been delayed there by an 
 officer's order, or that I am not yet ready 
 to come back. Mother, think of me always 
 as though I were sitting near by, just as I 
 imagine you always beside me. Be of 
 good cheer, Mother, there is nothing that 
 I have done which is hidden from you. 
 I tell you truly, Mother, I will salute you 
 again. Do not grieve. I tell you confi- 
 dently I shall bow before you again in sal- 
 utation. It will be thus, Mother. I shall 
 come in the dead of the night and knock 
 at your door. Then I will call loudly that 
 you may wake and open the door to me. 
 With great delight you will open the door 
 and fold me to your breast, my Mother. 
 Then I will sit down beside you and tell 
 you what has happened to me — good and 
 evil. Then having rested the night in 
 comfort I will go out after the day has come 
 and I will salute all my brethren at the 
 
 [78]
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 mosque and in the village. Then I will return 
 and eat my bread in pleasure and happiness. 
 You, Mother, will say to me: "Shall I 
 give you some ghiV [native butter]. I 
 will say at first proudly, like one who has 
 travelled: — "No, I want none." You will 
 press me, and I will softly push my plate 
 over to you and you will fill it with ghi, 
 and I shall dip my cake in it with delight. 
 Believe me, Mother, this homecoming will 
 take place just as I have described it. I 
 see you before me always. It seems to me 
 only yesterday that I bent to your feet 
 when I made salutation and you put your 
 hand upon my head. 
 
 Mother, put your trust in God to guard 
 my head. If f my grave lies in France it 
 can never be in the Punjab, though we 
 try for a thousand years. If it be in the 
 Punjab then I shall certainly return to it to 
 that very place. Meantime, Mother, con- 
 sider what I have to eat. This is the true 
 
 [79]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 list. I eat daily sugar and ghi and flour, salt, 
 meat, red peppers, some almonds and dates, 
 sweets of various kinds as well as raisins 
 and cardamoms. In the morning I eat 
 tea and white biscuits. An hour after, 
 halwa and puri [native dishes]. At noon, 
 tea and bread; at seven o'clock of the even- 
 ing, vegetable curry. At bedtime I drink 
 milk. There is abundance of milk in this 
 country. I am more comfortable here, I 
 swear it to you, Mother, than any high 
 officer in India. As for our clothing, there 
 is no account kept of it. You would cry 
 out, Mother, to see the thick cloth expended. 
 So I beg you, Mother, to take comfort con- 
 cerning your son. Do not tear my heart by 
 telling me your years. Though we both 
 lived to be as old as elephants I am your son 
 who will come asking for you as I said, at 
 your door. 
 
 As to the risk of death, who is free from 
 
 it anywhere? Certainly not in the Pun- 
 
 [80]
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 jab. I hear that all those religious mendi- 
 cants at Zilabad have proclaimed a holy 
 fair this summer in order that pious people 
 may feed them, and now, having collected 
 in thousands beside the river in hot weather, 
 they have spread cholera all over the dis- 
 trict. There is trouble raging throughout 
 all the world, Mother, and yet these sons of 
 mean fathers must proclaim a beggars 5 
 festival in order to add to it ! There should 
 be an order of the Government to take all 
 those lazy rascals out of India into France 
 and put them in our front-line that their 
 bodies may be sieves for the machine guns. 
 Why cannot they blacken their faces and 
 lie in a corner with a crust of bread ? It is 
 certainly right to feed the family priests, 
 Mother, but when the idle assemble in 
 thousands begging and making sickness 
 and polluting the drinking-water, punish- 
 ment should be administered. 
 
 Very much sickness, such as cholera and 
 
 [81]'
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 dysentery, is caused by drinking foul water. 
 Therefore, it is best to have it boiled, 
 Mother, no matter what is said. When 
 clothes are washed in foul water, sickness 
 also spreads. You will say, Mother, that 
 I am no longer a trooper but a washer- 
 woman or an apothecary, but I swear to 
 you, my Mother, what I have said is true. 
 Now, I have two charges to deliver to you 
 as to the household under you. I beg you, 
 my Mother, to give order that my son drink 
 water which is boiled, at least from the 
 beginning of the hot weather till after the 
 Rains. That is one charge. The second is 
 that when I was going down to the sea with 
 the Regiment from home, the Lady Doctor 
 Sahiba in the Civil Lines asked of our 
 Colonel's lady whether any of us desired that 
 their households should take the charm 
 against the small-pox [be vaccinated]. I was 
 then busy with my work and I made no reply. 
 Now let that Doctor Sahiba know that I 
 
 [82]
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 desire by her favour that my son take the 
 charm as soon as may be.. I charge you, 
 Mother, upon his head that it is done soon. 
 I beg you respectfully to take this charge 
 upon you. 
 
 Oh, my Mother, if I could now see you 
 for but half of one watch in the night or at 
 evening preparing food ! I remember the old 
 days in my dreamings but when I awake — 
 there is the sleeper and there is the bedding 
 and it is more far off than Delhi. But God 
 will accomplish the meetings and surely 
 arrange the return. 
 
 Mother, before going out to the attack 
 the other day, I had a dream. I dreamed 
 that a great snake appeared in our trenches 
 in France and at the same time our Pir 
 Murshid [our family priest] whose face I 
 saw quite clearly, appeared with a stick 
 and destroyed it. Well then, Mother, our 
 lot went in to the attack and returned from 
 it safely. Those who were fated to be the 
 
 [8 3 ]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 victims of death were taken and those who 
 were fated to be wounded were wounded; 
 and all our party returned safely. At the 
 same time, the Government secured a vic- 
 tory and the Regiment obtained renown. 
 It was our horse that went out over the 
 trenches, Mother, and the Germans, being 
 alarmed, fled. We were forbidden to pursue 
 because of hidden guns. This was trouble 
 to us. We owed them much blood on our 
 brethren's account. Tell the Murshid my 
 dream and ask him for a full interpretation. 
 I have also seen our Murshid twice before 
 in my dreams. Ask him why he comes to 
 me thus. I am not conscious of any wrong- 
 doing, and if it is a sign of favour to me, 
 then the shape should speak. 
 
 I am quite aware how Cod rewards the 
 unwilling. He is all powerful. Look at the 
 case of that man of our own family who was 
 ordered to the front with a higher rank. 
 He refused promotion in order to stay be- 
 
 [8 4 ]
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 hind, and in a month's time he died of the 
 plague in his own village. If he had gone 
 to the front his family would have received 
 the war pension. An atheist never achieves 
 honour, Mother. He is always unsettled 
 and has no consolations. Do we Mussul- 
 mans think that the Prophet will spend all 
 his time in asking God to forgive our trans- 
 gressions? Tell the Pir Murshid what I 
 have written. 
 
 Mother, put down your ear and listen to 
 me in this matter, my Mother. There is 
 one thing I wish to impress earnestly on you. 
 You must know that among recruits for the 
 Regiment there are too few of our kind of 
 Mussulmans. They are sending recruits 
 from the Punjab who were formerly la- 
 bourers and common workmen. The con- 
 sequence of this is, in the Regiment, that 
 we Mussulmans are completely outnumbered 
 by these low people, and the promotions 
 go accordingly. Each of our troops, my 
 
 [85]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 Mother, has been divided into two; that is 
 to say there are four troops to a squadron. 
 We Mussulmans should have at least two 
 troops out of the four, but owing to the lack 
 of recruits we have not sufficient men of 
 our faith to form more than one. Now, 
 Mother, as it was in our fathers* time, 
 he who supplies the men gets the promo- 
 tion. Therefore, if our friends at home, 
 and especially our Pir Murshid, would exert 
 themselves to supply fifteen or twenty 
 recruits, I could approach my Colonel 
 Sahib in regard to promotion. If my 
 Colonel received my request favourably 
 then you at home would only have the 
 trouble to provide the men. But I do not 
 think, Mother, there would be any trouble 
 if our Pir Murshid exerted himself in the 
 matter and if my father's brother also 
 exerted himself. A family is a family even 
 [if it be] scattered to the ends of the earth, 
 Mother. My father's brother's name is 
 
 [86]
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 still remembered in the Regiment on ac- 
 count of his long service and his great deeds 
 of old. Tell him, my Mother, that the men 
 talk of him daily as though he had only 
 resigned yesterday. If he rides out among 
 the villages with his medals he will certainly 
 fetch in many of our class. If it were fifty 
 it would mean much more influence for me 
 with my Colonel. He is very greedy for 
 our class of Mahommedans. 
 
 Mother, our Pir Murshid too, is a very 
 holy man. If he preached to them after 
 harvest he would fetch in many and I 
 should be promoted, and the pensions go 
 with the promotion. In a short time by 
 God's assistance, I might command a troop 
 if sufficient recruits were attained by the 
 exertions of my friends and well-wishers. 
 The honour of one is the honour of all. 
 Lay all this before the Murshid and my 
 uncle. 
 
 None of the Cavalry have yet done any- 
 
 [87]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 thing to compare with our Regiment. 
 This may be because of fate or that their 
 nature is not equal to ours. There is great 
 honour to be got out of a lance before long. 
 The war has become loosened and cavalry 
 patrols are being sent forward. We have 
 driven Mama Lumra [a nickname for the 
 enemy] several miles across country. He 
 has planted his feet again but it is not the 
 same Mama Lumra. His arrogance is 
 gone. Our guns turn the earth upside down 
 upon him. He has made himself houses 
 underground which are in all respects fort- 
 resses with beds, chairs and lights. Our 
 guns break these in. There is little to see 
 because Mama Lumra is buried under- 
 neath. These days are altogether different 
 from the days when all our Army was here 
 and Mama Lumra's guns overwhelmed us 
 by day and by night. Now Mama Lumra 
 eats his own stick. Fighting goes on in the 
 sky, on earth and under earth. Such a 
 
 [88]
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 fighting is rarely vouchsafed any one to 
 behold. Yet if one reflects upon God it is 
 no more than rain on a roof. Mother, 
 once I was reported "missing, killed or be- 
 lieved taken prisoner." I went with a patrol 
 to a certain place beyond which we went 
 forward to a place which had recently been 
 taken by the English infantry. Suddenly 
 the enemy's fire fell upon us and behind us 
 like water. Seeing we could not go back, we 
 lay down in the holes made by the shells. 
 The enemy exerted himself to the utmost, but 
 our guns having found him bombarded him 
 and he ceased. In the evening we retired 
 out of our shell-holes. We had to walk; 
 it was fasting time and we suffered from 
 thirst. So our hearts were relieved when 
 we returned to the Regiment. We had all 
 been reported to Divisional Headquarters 
 as lost. This false report was then can- 
 celled. The shell-holes in the ground are 
 the size of our goat-pen and as deep as my 
 
 [89]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 height with the arm raised. They are 
 more in number than can be counted, and 
 of all colours. It is like small-pox upon the 
 ground. 
 
 We have no small-pox or diseases here. 
 Our doctors are strict, and refuse is burned 
 by the sweepers. It is said there is no 
 physician like fire. He leaves nothing to 
 the flies. It is said that flies produce 
 sicknesses, especially when they are allowed 
 to sit on the nostrils and the corners of the 
 eyes of the children or to fall into their 
 milk-pots. The young children of this 
 country of France are beautiful and do not 
 suffer from sickness. Their women do not 
 die in childbed. This is on account of 
 physicians and midwives who abound in 
 knowledge. It is a Government order, 
 Mother, that none can establish as a mid- 
 wife till she has shown her ability. These 
 people are idolators. When there is a death 
 which is not caused by war, they instantly 
 
 [90]
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 ascribe it to some fault in eating or drinking 
 or the conduct of life on the part of the dead. 
 If one dies without manifest cause the 
 physicians at once mutilate the body to 
 ascertain what evil was hidden inside it. 
 If anything is discovered there is a crim- 
 inal trial. Thus the women-folk do not 
 traffic in poisons and wives have no sus- 
 picion one against the other. Truly, 
 Mother, people are only defective on ac- 
 count of ignorance. Learning and knowl- 
 edge are the important things. 
 
 Your letters come to me with every mail 
 exactly as if we were at headquarters. 
 This is accomplished solely by knowledge. 
 There are hundreds of women behind our 
 lines who make clean and repair the dirty 
 clothes of the troops. Afterwards, they 
 are baked in very hot ovens which utterly 
 destroy the vermin and also, it is said, 
 diseases. We have, too, been issued iron 
 helmets to protect the head against falling 
 
 [91]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 shots. It was asked of us all if any had an 
 objection. The Sikhs reported that they 
 had not found any permission in their Law 
 to wear such things. They, therefore, go 
 uncovered. It was reported by our priests 
 for us Mahommedans that our Law neither 
 forbids nor enjoins. It is a thing indifferent. 
 They are heavier than the pagri [turban], 
 but they turn falling iron. Doubtless, it 
 is Allah's will that the lives of His Faith- 
 ful should be prolonged by these hats. 
 The sons of mothers who go to foreign 
 parts are specially kept under His Eye. 
 
 We know very well how the world is made. 
 To earn a living and bear trouble is the 
 duty of man. If I send you a report that 
 I have won promotion in the Regiment, 
 do not forget to distribute alms to the 
 extent of fifteen rupees and to feed the 
 poor. 
 
 Mother, put down your ear and listen to 
 me. There is no danger whatever in box- 
 
 [92]
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 pictures [snapshot-photographs]. Anyone 
 submitted to them is in all respects as he 
 was before. Nothing is taken out of his 
 spirit. I, myself, Mother, have submitted 
 myself to many box-pictures, both mounted 
 and standing beside my horse. If at any 
 time again the Zenana Doctor Sahiba de- 
 sires to make a box-picture of him do not 
 snatch the child away but send the picture 
 to me. I cannot see him in my dreams 
 because at his age he changes with each 
 month. When I went away he was still 
 on all fours. Now you tell me he stands 
 up holding by the skirts. I wish to see a 
 box-picture of this very greatly indeed. 
 I can read box-pictures now as perfectly 
 as the French. When I was new to this 
 country I could not understand their mean- 
 ing in the least. This is on account of 
 knowledge which comes by foreign travel 
 and experience. Mother, this world 
 abounds in marvels beyond belief. We in 
 
 [93]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 India are but stones compared to these 
 people. They do not litigate among them- 
 selves; they speak truth at first answer; 
 their weddings are not [performed] till both 
 sides are at least eighteen, and no man has 
 authority here to beat his wife. 
 
 I have resided in billets with an old man 
 and his wife, who possess seven hens, an 
 ass, and a small field of onions. They 
 collect dung from our horse-lines upon 
 their backs, a very little at a time but con- 
 tinuously. They are without means of 
 maintenance, yet they do not lay a finger 
 upon any food except through invitation. 
 They exhibit courtesy to each other in all 
 things. 
 
 They call me Sia [monsieur?] which is 
 Mian [Mahommedan title of respect] and 
 also man barah [mon brave ?] which signifies 
 hero. I have spoken to them many times 
 of you, my Mother, and they desire I send 
 you their salutations. She calls me to ac- 
 
 [94]
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 count strictly for my doings each day. 
 At evening tide I am fetched in with the hens. 
 My clothes are then inspected and repaired 
 when there is need. She turns me back 
 and forth between her hands. If I ex- 
 hibit impatience, she hits me upon the side 
 of the head, and I say to my heart it is your 
 hands. 
 
 Now this is the French language, Mother. 
 
 (i) Zuur mononfahn. The morning 
 salutation. 
 
 (2) Wasi lakafeh. Coffee is prepared. 
 
 (3) Abil towah mononfahn. Rise and 
 go to parade. 
 
 (4) Dormeh beeahn mon fiz nublieh pah- 
 leh Bondihu. This is their dismissal at 
 night, invoking the blessing of their God. 
 They use a Tasbih [rosary] in form like ours 
 but of more beads. They recite prayers 
 both sitting and walking. Having seen 
 my Tasbih these old people become curious 
 concerning the Faith. Certainly they are 
 
 [9Sl
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 idolators. I have seen the Images by the 
 roadside which they worship. Yet they 
 are certainly not Kafirs, who hide the truth 
 and the mercy of Allah is illimitable. They 
 two send you their salutations thus: — On- 
 voyeh no zalutazioun zempresseh ar zmadam 
 vot mair. It is their form of blessing. 
 
 She has borne three sons. Two are al- 
 ready dead in this war and of the third no 
 information since the spring-time. There 
 remains in the house the son of the eldest 
 son. He is three years old. His name is 
 Pir, which in their language also means 
 a holy man. He runs barefoot in summer 
 and wears only one garment. He eats all 
 foods and specially dates. In this country 
 it is not allowed to give children pepper or 
 cardamoms. He has learned to speak our 
 tongue and bears a wooden sword which was 
 made for him and a turban of our sort. 
 When he is weary he repairs to the centre of 
 my bed which is forbidden to him by his 
 
 U96]
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 grandmother of whom he has no fear. He 
 fears nothing. My Mother, he is almost the 
 same sort as my own. He sends his salu- 
 tations to him. He calls him " My brother 
 who is in India." He also prays for him 
 aloud before an idol which he is taken to 
 worship. On account of his fatness he 
 cannot yet kneel long, but falls over side- 
 ways. The idol is of Bibbee Miriam [the 
 Virgin Mary] whom they, in this country, 
 believe to watch over children. He has also 
 a small idol of his own above his bed which 
 represents a certain saint called Pir. He 
 rides upon the ass and says he will become 
 a trooper. I take delight in his presence 
 and his conversation. 
 
 The children in this country are learned 
 from their very birth. They go to the 
 schools even when the shells fall near 
 by. They know all the countries in the 
 world, and to read and write in their 
 language and to cast accounts. Even the 
 
 [97]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 girls of eight years can cast accounts and 
 those that are marriageable have complete 
 knowledge of cookery, accounts, and gov- 
 ernments, and washing of clothes, agri- 
 culture and the manufacture of garments 
 and all other offices: otherwise they are 
 reckoned infirm-minded. Each girl is given 
 a dowry to which she adds with her own 
 hands. No man molests any woman here 
 on any occasion. They come and go at 
 their pleasure upon their business. There 
 is one thing I should like to see, Mother. 
 I should like to see all the men of India 
 with all their wives brought to France in 
 order to see the country and profit by 
 their experiences. Here are no quarrels or 
 contentions, and there is no dishonesty. 
 All day long men do their work and the 
 women do theirs. Compared with these 
 people the people of India do not work at 
 all, but all day long are occupied with evil 
 thoughts and our women all day long they do ( 
 
 [98]
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 nothing but quarrel. Now I see this. The 
 blame for this state of affairs, Mother, lies 
 upon the men of India, for if the men were to 
 educate the women they would give up 
 quarrelling. 
 
 When a man goes out into the world his 
 understanding is enlarged and he becomes 
 proficient in different kinds of work. All 
 that is needed is to show courage. At the 
 present time, one's bravery or one's cow- 
 ardice is apparent. The opportunities for 
 advancement come quickly. Such oppor- 
 tunities will not occur again. 
 
 As for any marriage proposed [for me?] 
 when I return, those things can wait till I 
 return. It is no gain to take into the 
 house a child or a sickly one who, through 
 no fault of her own, dies in bringing forth. 
 If there be any talk between our house and 
 any other family upon this subject they 
 should understand that I desire knowledge 
 more than dowry. There are schools where 
 
 [99]
 
 THE EYES OF ASIA 
 
 girls are educated by English ladies. I am 
 not of the sort to make a wedding outside 
 my clan or country, but if I fight to keep 
 Mama Lumra out of the Punjab I will 
 choose my wives out of the Punjab. I 
 desire nothing that is contrary to the 
 Faith, Mother, but what was ample yester- 
 day does not cover even the palm of the 
 hand to-day. This is owing to the spread 
 of enlightenment among all men coming 
 and going and observing matters which 
 they had never before known to exist. 
 
 In this country when one of them dies, 
 the tomb is marked and named and kept 
 like a garden so that the others may go to 
 mourn over her. Nor do they believe a 
 burial-ground to be inhabited by evil 
 spirits or ghouls. When I was upon a cer- 
 tain duty last month, I lay three nights in 
 a grave-yard. None troubled me, even 
 though the dead had been removed from 
 their graves by the violence of shells 
 
 [ ioo ]
 
 A TROOPER OF HORSE 
 
 bursting. One was a woman of this coun- 
 try, newly dead, whom we reburied for the 
 sake of the Pity of Allah, and made the 
 prayer. Tell the Pir Murshid this, and 
 that I performed Tayamummum [the short- 
 er purification with sand or dust] afterwards. 
 There was no time for the full purifica- 
 tion. 
 
 Oh, my Mother, my Mother, I am your 
 son, your son; and as I have said at the 
 beginning I will return to your arms from 
 out of this country, when God shall permit ! 
 
 THE END 
 
 [ioi]
 
 THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS 
 GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angela 
 This book is due on the last date ■tamped below. 
 
 
 £* tiP 
 
 
 DISCHARGE-URL 
 J UN 1 2 1978 
 
 m, 
 
 Rfr C'D LD.au 
 
 OCT 01 1990 
 aus i ? wm 
 
 Form LlP-Series 444
 
 1 
 
 N 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000 378 254 7