Evening Star Newspaper, June 7, 1925, Page 70

Island of 10,000 Slayers One of Earth’s Strangest Colonies In search of romance and adven- ture, Capt. Edward A. Salisbury set forth from Los Angeles in the Wis- dom, a ketchrigged sailing yacht, with no definite purpose except to circumnavizate the globe. Off the régular lanes of commierce, the hoat touched at many romantic and exotic plices at the whim of its commander, becomMg a veritable EYpsy of the sea ge Capt. Merian C On the voy was joined by who remained until its disastrous end. This article and a succeeding one are a joint record of some of their experiences, in which Capt Balisbury, for the sake of simplifi cation, appears as the’ narratc BY EDWARD A. SALISBURY. N alisbury Cooper, a New York club the other day I'met a globe-trotter who said to me: “A white man must live in a white man’s country to be happy. Whites who dwell in the lands of vellows and browns and blacks con sider themselves always as exiles. In their hearts they are never content.’ “I'm not so sure of that,” I replied “As contented white men as 1 have ever known—and cultured white wom en, too—live in a land of all three colors—a lonely igland in a lonely sea.” “Impossible,” said he. “What place are you talking about?” “Murd Island,” T replied Murderers Island?" he exclaimed T looked him in the eyes so that he might know I was dealing neither jokes nor lies. “A lonely island with only one settlement; that settlement composed of 10,000 convicted brown and yellow murderers; all the rest of the island dense jungle in which roam naked coal-black savage dwarfs, and ruling over the lot a half-hundred whites.” Then I added firmly. “And the whites are very happy there.” “Why? “‘Listen. For two years T had been wandering up and down the world in my yacht Wisdom. In January I was sailing north from Sumatra up the Bay of Bengal. One hot dawn we sighted a group of low-lying hills, dark shadows in a purple sea. Along the coasts of these island hills there were no signs of life—no villages, no fisher boats, no living beings. Oniy the dark jungle which ran down to the silent sea. But charts showed a harbor, and as the sun was coming up blazing against the cloudless sky we sighted a break in the jungle. As we sailed in we saw that a tiny island hill, dotted with a score of red bungalows, lay off the mainland. We swung in around this islet, and there, a quarter of a mile away on the mainland, on a low, grass- covered hill in a clearing on the edge of the jungle, stood a huge, square, forbidding pile of red brick 1 looked through my binac saw that every window barred. On the tower which crowned the stern structure there were leaning motionless on their rifles two bearded men in khaki, who wore turbans of the Sikhs. It was a prison. Around and about the prison I could just make out through the trees the thatched roofs of villages the island a signal-flag little 0 fluttered up, telling us to anchor. A rowboat came alongside, and a slow speaking Scotchman._ an officer of the Indian marines, stepped on board. He Wwas the port officer. Cooper and I| went ashore with him and walked over 10 a low bungalow at the water's edge. This was the club. Breakfasting in its big central room was a onearmed e major wearing on his tunic the ribbon | of the D. S. 0. As we were served with cool drinks, the major asked us our impressions of the Andaman Is- lands. “We haven't had much of a chance lo get any as yvet,” I told him, and asked what there was to see. “Well, not much,” he replied. “Only about 10.000 murderers. You know Port Blair, this place, is where they send into exile the murderers from all over India. We have 'em of all kinds here.” He called, “Boy.” Some one outside answered loudly and shrilly, “8ahib,” and in trotted a bare-footed | Indian to replenish our slasses major laughed. “That boy derer. too. I thought to m: 1f, “What a life! And the major apparently re my thought from my expression. not so bad as that.” he said could stay here, by Jove, but luck. I'm ordered back to Burma. Now here comes a lucky man. He's been here 20 vea He pointed at a dry little man in spectacles who came in, | was_introduced and passed on into another room. “That chap’s a forester something by birth, but British ship. He was The government asked wanted as a reward and he chose a | permanent billet here. Lucky dog.” The port officer, who had gone out came in to say that the governor was waiting to see us. As we plodded up the winding gravel road to the big mansion on top of the hill, we passed a two-wheeled carriage. It had no horses, but six sweating, half-naked natives were pulling heavily at the shafts. By its side walked a Sikh guard. Half reclining in the carriage seat was a woman, her face almost as pale as | her cool white linen dress. It was the work of the tropical sun, that pallor. T had been long accustomed to recoz- nize its disastrous effect on the com plexions of white women “A white woman living t the midst The mur Vish 1 no such Dane or he saved a the engineer. him what he | in | Gypsy-Like Wanderings of Yacht Take Owner Also to L.and of Mysterious Dwarfs Who Cannot Even Make Fire. of 10,000 murderers,” I murmured to myself. “Unhappy creature.” But as I lovked closely at her, as she returned our bow, I could see no marks of dis- |content. Rather she had the air of {one to whom life has heen good—very ood. ¥ %o T the door of the governor's man- sion a great white parrot sereamed an unfriendly greeting. Several In- dian servants met us and led us |through a long hall, hung with queer bows and arrows, to a library. Its windows overlooked the great red prison across the little bay. I won- dered what sort of man ruled over colony of turbulent conviets, I ted a llonlike figure with bold features and hard eyes. The door opened and, instead, there came toward us a short, stooped, mid- jdle-aged man, the type one sees, book in hand, wandering under the elms of a college campus. He said in the low voice of the cultured Englishman, “Welcome to the Andamans, gentle- men.” | This was | most despoti | | [A Col. Beadon, with al- powers. With a hand- {ful of whites and a company or so of soldiery, he rules over the thou- sands of criminals, most of whom are allowed to live quite freely In vil- lages of their own. The prison across the bay was used only for the most desperate characters and sedi- tionists and new prisoners his bookish governor seemed to take the caonvicts as a matter of | course, but even he appeared gripped | by the mystery of a race of pigmies | {who inhabited the jungle. One tribe, |he said. roamed the forest only a few miles from the colony, but could not |be captured or hardly’ seen. | _The only sign the colony ever had |of them was when sometimes at night | they crept out of the jungle, killed a few convicts and escaped back into | their impenetrable wilderness. When the governor spoke of these queer ittle jungle people, his voice lost a | little of its tone of semi-boredom. | But I was much more interested just then in the life-of these whites 1 had seen walking unarmed among the murderer convicts. So I asked |f more information. “Are all these {Indians wandering around, apparent- |1 quite freely, really murderers?” | He smiled. “Not quite all,” he answered “We have some famous dacoits (bandits) and a few political | prisoners, but the majority are mur- dere He pointed at the musty | row files which lined one side the room. “In those books,” he sald, “are the records of enoush | romances to keep a dozen storywrit- {ers at work for life. But perhaps the | editors might not print the yarns: for they all have the same tragic climax—a killing and then exile to this place “But if all these derers. isn't there great danger for vou whites walking about unarmed? The governor looked up as if a little | surprised. “Why, no. There are a few—er—accidents now and then, but no real danger. No. | The accidents to which he referred are of the kind that happened to |viceroy of India who visited the island one Winter many vears ago. It was a Mohammedan convict who stabbed him to death in the midst of his retinue. I found this same attitude among all the white rulers of this strange place. This little group—not more than 50 in all—after the fashion of the English took their bizarre sur- roundings as the most natural thing in the world. Instead of worrying | about either convicts or savages, they had built themselves the club where we had met the major—when half a dozen Englishmen settle anywhere | they must have a club. o Tlllfi club was a delight with card. billiard and lounging rooms. Part of the sea which washed up to its doors was fenced off from sharks to make an enormous outdoor swimming Pool. A tennis court was nearby and vonder of wonders, a golf course | These rulers lived in spacious bunga- lows on the hills. Biz windows opened on every side with the sea breeze ever blowing through. They had liter- ally swarms of servants. And the servants had one peculiarity—they were all murderers. This T did not know until one dark night Cooper and 1 went to dine with an officer and his wife who live on the nainland on a hill above the convict villages. It was pitch-black when we landed, and we could just make out by torchlight a arriage drawn by six brown fellows, naked except for loin- cloths. We got in and our human horses started up a winding road. We could see nothing but the glim- mer of the lantern on the naked brown backs before us. We stopped at last before a brilliantly lighted two-story bungalowlike house. Half a dozen servants, dressed in bright colors, were drawn up at the door. In front of these was standing our host. After a dinner served by an Indian butler with numerous aides, as we were sitting in the many-windowed drawing room. having coffee, I re- marked to our hostess that she did not seem to be bothered by the serv- ant_problem “Well, T do manage to get enough of them," she replied “AM convicts, I suppose,” said L “‘Yes, indeed,” said she, smiling. I don't suppoge you ever take in any murderers,” I remarked. “No murderers!” she answered in of men are mur- | | mock indignation. “I wouldn't have anything else. You don’t suppose I would tolerate a lot of thieves and robbers running about my house. No, indeed; give me a nice, honest mur- derer for a servant any time.” I thought a minute, “And those fellows who dragged us up the hill, are they murderers, too?” I asked. She smiled again and nodded ves. And when it was time to fay good- night we rode down the hill through the night in the same rig with the same team. They There mans will never seem quite real. are figures out of a dream. are only about a dozen in all. Each has her own bodyguard, a great, bearded. uniformed brown Sikh. with gun and bayonet, without whom she is | To me those women of the Anda- Also, though she has the luxury of a| private carriage, there are no horses | for it, and she uses the same kind of a team of six murderers as the one which took us up the hill that night. | That white-faced woman, then, whom we had first seen with the con tented look on her face, had had a team of murderers! But soon we: be- | 'came so accustomed to seeing these | j white women riding about to pay their |calls, drawn by murderer human | “A WHITE WOMAN LIVING never allowed to go out husband is not at home better part of the day must stay near her. Then, too, the Indian dresses *her hair each day murderess serving a life which is the her bodyguard maid who may be a sentence. BY GEORGE PORTER. ESOLVED, That the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white; 13 stars, white representing a new 113 in a blue field, constella- tion. “That resolve, passed by the Conti- nental Congress. sitting at Philadel phia, on Saturday, Junme 14, 17 authorized and established by statute the flag of our Nation. Today. 148th anniversary of that event, brings to mind the fact that, though America is comparatively young among family of nations, its flag, is one of Spanish flag was not authorized until 1785, the French tri-color s first established in 1794, the present fiag of Great Britain was not decreed unti 1801, and Italy’s flag of today was first adopted in 1848. It was only about 11 months the Declaration of Independence signed that the flag law was passed so our ensign, being barely a y younger than the Nation itself, has figured prominently in practically all the important events of our country's history. Countless flags of the same pattern as the one which flies so dauntlessly over the length and breadth of America today have. through their presence in battles, at ceremonies, and on exploring expedi- tions, become prizes of the past well worth preserving. They are priceless treasures. Finan- clally worth little or nothing. their intrinsic value, engendered by their associations, is inestimable. There is the 13.starred flag which John Paul Jones flew over his ship, the Bonne Homme Richard, and later transferred to the Alllance, and which recalls the famous admiral's state- ment, “The flag and I are twins, when informed that his commission bore the same date as the flag resolu- tion. There is the more vouthful flag which Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary raised at the North Pole, April 6 1909, and there is the still more youth- ful flag which was displayed at the top of the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, on April 23, 1917, and saluted by the French, in celebration of America’s entrance into the World War on the side of the allies. These are but three of the thousands of memorable banners that are to be found in museums, State capitols, the military and naval academies and similar public buildings and pri- vate residences throughout the country. The Jones, Peary, and Paris colors were particularly mentioned because they have an additional claim to distinction: they are at present housed in the same hall with Ameri- ca's foremost flag-treasure; the bit of bunting that inspired our National Anthem; the original Star Spangled Banner. Tt i in the spacious hall immedi- ately inside the main entrance of the 0ld Museum Building, less than a score of vards from the door, that the faded and torn remains of the flag which Francis Scott Key im- mortalized are exhibited. : In ts present state of preservation The Star Spangled Banner is 32-feet fiy by 29 feet hoist. It was made within 15 stripes and an equal num- ber of stars, but one of the stars is entirely gone and a sector of one of the stripes is missing. The blue field upon which the five-pointed stars are mounted in five indented parrallel lines of three stars each, takes up more than a fourth of the entire area of the flag. KEach of the famous ban- ner's stripes is nearly two-feet wide, while the stars measure two-feet from point to point. The union rests in the ninth siripe, a red one, a dif- ference from our present fag, in which the union rests in the eighth, which is white. Decay of the bunting has resulted in the flag being prac- tically riddled with holes, the white having suffered much more in this respect than the red and blue. * ok ok RIGINALLY the dimensions of The Star Spangled Banner may have been greater. as it was made in accordance with the regulation governing all flags worn by our mili- tary and naval forces during the War nf 1812, some of which were 40-feet {in length. | When her that the union be| el the | the oldest in the world. The existing | after | was | e 2% o s R iy IN THE horses And these women “‘carry on” hap-| pily, as do their nfen. From 4 to 6| each day is the time for sports, when 1.1; the burning rtropical sun begins to | seek the horizon, they play at tennis that we came to think little) | |is accredited with the honor of hav- ing made The Star Spangled Ban- ner. One of her daughters, Mrs. Car- oline Purdy, has left an account of |how it was done. “It was made by my mother . and I assisted her. My grandmother. Rebecca Young, made the first flag of the Revolution, under Gen. Wash- | ington’s directions, and for this rea- son my mother was selected by Com- modore Barney and Gen. Stricker (family connections) to make this Star Spangled Banner, being an ex- { ceedingly patriotic woman. - The flag being so very large, my mother was | obliged to obtain permission from the proprietor of “Claggett’s Brew- ery,” which was in our neighborhood, | to spread it out in their malt-house. | {and I remember seeing my mother {down on the floor placing the stars. | After the completion of the flag, she superintended the topping of it, hav- ing it fastened in the most secure manner. to prevent it being torn away by balls. The wisdom of her pre- caution was shown during the en- gagement, many shots piercing it, but it still remained firm to the staff. The flag, I think, contained 400 vards of bunting, and my mother worked many nights until 12 o’clock to complete it in a given time." Following the war, Lieut orge Armistead, commander ort McHenry, Baltimore. where the | flag was used, carefully preserved it.| One of the stripes contained his sig- | nature and the date of the famous bombardment which inspired Key's poem. It remained a treasured heir- | loom in the Armistead family for | nearly a century. In 1912, Mr. Eben Appleton of Yonkers, N. Y., a grand- son of Col. Armistead, presented America’s most famous flag to the local museum, where it had been on | display since 1907. During the Sum- mer of 1914 it was temporarily re- moved to the chapel of the Smith- sonian Building, where its tattered threads were repaired under the di- rection of Mrs. Amelia Fowler of Massachusetts, an expert at such work, who had helped restore the flag relics of her home State and those in Trophy Hall at the Naval Academy, Annapolis. The “ensign of Fort McHenry has| often been displayed and exhibited. | For years it was raised on September | 13 and 14 at celebrations of the battle | In 1824 it was flown for the reception | of Gen. Lafavette during his stay in Baltimore. "It was shown in, the naval department of the Centennial exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, and at the Old South Church in Boston, on June 14, 1877, when the 100th an- niversary of the birthday of the flag was commemorated. ¥ ok ok ¥ I?\'SEY‘ARABL\' interwoven with the | story of “The Star Spangled Ban-| ner” is the name of Francis Scott Key, whose poem has made its folds immortal. Mr. Key was a lawver, a native of Frederick County. Md. and at one time was an attorney in the District of Columbia, his residence on M street Col. of MIDST OF 10,000 MURDERERS.” I MURMURED TO MYSE and golf Afterward comes a plnnm“ in the ocean pool, and finally cool drinks in the room set aside for the ladies, before going home to dress for the little dinners they delight in giving one another But in contrast to the life of the AN OLD PRINT Of being well tonians Writing from Georgetown under date of September 2. 1814, Mr. Key in formed his mother: “I am going In the morning to Baltimore, to proceed In a flag vessel to Gen. Ross. Old Dr. Beanes of Marlboro is taken prisoner by the enemy. who threaten to carry him off. Some of his friends have urged me to apply for a flag of truce to go and try to procure his release. I hope to return in about eight or ten days, though it is uncertain, as [ do_not know where to find the fleet.” Perhaps that needs a bit of ex- plaining. . Mr. Key and Dr. Beanes were inti- mate friends. The doctor had been taken prisoner. and his fine house in Marlboro used as a headquarters by the British officers who were leading the invading army on its march to Washington. When he reached Baltimore and prepared to carry out his plans, Mr Key became associated with Mr. John 8. Skinner, a gentleman whom Presi dent Madison had appointed to nego- tiate with the British for an exchange of prisoners. On September 13, 1814, the two started down the bay in a | vessel of .their own flying a flag of truce. They reached the enemy’s fleet without difficulty, and were received on the ship of the commander, who agreed to release Dr. Beanes. | The rest of the story, obtained first hand from Mr. Key by his brother-in- | law, Chief Justice Taney, is told by | him: ! “‘Admiral Cochrane, with whom Key dined on the day of his arrival at the fleet, apologized for not accom. modating him on board his own ship during his detention, saying it was al- ready crowded with officers of the Army, but that he and his friend, Mr. Skinner, would be well taken care of on board the frigate Surprise, commanded by his son, Sir Thomas Cochrane, to which frigate they were accordingly transferred. Mr. Key and Mr. Skinner continued on board the Surprise until the fleet reached the Patapsco, and preparations wers made for landing the troops. Admiral Cochrane then shifted his flag to the frigate, and superintended in person the attack by water made on the fort, and Mr. Key and Mr. Skinner were sent on board their own vessel, with a guard of sailors and marines, to pre- vent them from landing. They were permitted to take Dr. Beanes with them, and thought themselves fortu- nate in being anchored in a position to enable them to see distinctly the flag of Fort McHenry. Mr. Key de- scribed to me with much animation the scene on the night of the bhom- bardment. He and Mr. Skinner re- mained on deck during the night, watching every shell from the moment it was fired until it fell. listening with breathless interest to hear if an ex plosion followed. But jt zddenly known to most Washing- my’s ships, they did not know whether been abandoned for the remainder of the night in pain- UNHAPPY CREATUR white woman is that of the bhrown and yellow and black skinned woman murderers I occasionally saw walk ing along the sun-baked roads. If i1 is woman’s chief desire to be desirec by man, then these woman convict exiles should be the happlest of crex communication with any of the ene. the fort had surrendered or the attack They paced the deck ful suspense, watching with intense anxiety for the return of day, and | looking every few minutes at their | watches to see how much longer they must wait for it. Near dawn, and before it was light enough to see objects at a distance, their glasses were turned to the fort, uncertain whether they should see there the Stars and Stripes or the flag of the enemy. At length the light came, and they saw that “our flag was still there,” and as the day advanced. they discovered, from the movemeni of the boats between the shore and the fleet, that the troops had been roughly handled and that many wounded men were heing carried to the ships. At length Mr. Key was informed that the attack on Baltimore had failed, and the British army was re-embarking, and that he, Mr. Skinner and Dr. Beanes would be permitted to leave the fleet and go where they pleased as soon as the troops were on board and ready to | was a man \ But are I don't few tures, They only among 10,0004 Upon men, most of whom have already kill- [{he punishment is ruthless. ed because of love and jealousy They are hot-blooded, desperate men these Indfan Kkillers. They are Orfentals and to them women are the heginning and the end of all human delights—hetter than the tinkle of gold coine ope agalpst the other: bette than the blood of an ememy on the knife blade desperate men muet forego the taste of the honey of life. However, a small percentage get women in a most peculiar way. When woman murderers are sent to the is- land, Col. Beadon has them lined up on Saturdays and put on the marriage market. Then the exiles gather about in flerce crowds and bid for the treas- ures. Only a dozen-odd can be suc cessful. When these carry away their brides, they are followed by raging glares from the disappointed sultors. Too often tragedy follows When her husband ix away in the flelds, the woman finds a hundred lovers ready to dare all for one soft glance from her eye. Then comes knife thrust in the dark, or an open killing of both woman and lover and the end—with the hanging of the hus band. The hanging is sure. The mild-man nered, bookish m; with whom Cooper used to play at chess, knows that the safety of all rests on swift punishment Only a few hours at most, and then up in the great red prison on the hill the gallows trap is sprung: there ix a tolling of the bell and all of Murderers’ Island knows that their soft.voiced governor = still the master of Nife and death I saw this gallows once when I visit ed the prison, and learned to my sur prise that we were not the only Amer jcans on the island. In the prisor who, though he might strictly be called an American, for he was a Mexican half-breed. had come from the United States. He was a native of southern Texas He was the most hated feared and the most despised of the prisoners Men spat on ground his feet touched, vet before him as if he had the evil eve He was the official hangman. How he came to be a life convict in tt queer island prison on the other side of the world I did not learn. But there he was, receiving 10 rupees a head for each man hanged and some lesser sum for his work at the whippin post There was other man America. been in the in who He wa California the prison ‘also had lived long in a Sikh. who had for many vears. an | When we told him good-hye, his eyes seemed to look over the seas and see the orange groves and smiling fields of that distant land, as he said to us “You are going back to America. Back to America. Oh, if I could only see it once more There were tears in his eves as we turned and went away In the prison. too, I remember one )id, bowed convict who wore around his neck the tag which showed he had three times made a break for lib. erty. Nevermore would he see the Museum Has Original Star Spangled Banner F THE FRANCIS SCOTT KEY HOME IN GEORGETOWN. “Mr. Key then told me that, under the excitement of the time he had written a song and handed me a copy of ‘The Star Spangled Banner.” When I had read it and expressed my ad miration 1 asked him how he found time, in the scenes he had been pass- | ing through, to compose such a song. He said he commenced it on the deck of his vessel, in the fervor of the mo ment, when he saw the énemy hastily retreating to their ships, and looked at the flag he had so anxiously watched for, as the morning opened: that he had written some lines, or brief notes, that would aid him in cailing them to mind, upon the bac of a letter which he happened to have in his pocket, and for some of the lines as he proceeded he was obliged to rely altogether upon his memory, and that he finished it in the boat on his way to the shore, and wrote it out, as it now stands, at the hotel, on the night he reached Baltimore. and immediately after he arrived. The next morning he took it to Judge Nicholson (a relation), to ask him what he thought of it, and he was so much pleased with it that he imme. i ik diately sent it to the printer, And here in exile these | the most | eringed | think they arelllight of day outside of prison walls these men who try to escap They arn Pyt back into the prison, and there they stay until the end. ‘Khix old man, a Burmese and # woodsman who knew the stars, had brawed the cvclone-xwept Bay of Ben. gal #n a canoe he hed burned out of » log. e was picked up three-quarters f the\way to safety, paddling game on, though half dead from exposure and thirst. Indeed,, few of the murderers ever scape, despite their freedom fron Zuards and, prison walls. If thev try the sea, am upturned canoe marks their end. If they try the forest. thes are usually found with an arrow in their backs. But sometimes they sre never heard of again, and only the Jungle pyxmies can tell how they died. In all the veaws the English have lived the Anfamans, they have never heen able 10 do anything with the Jawuras, as is dulled the tribe of the Andamanese dwa this prison island. These pygmias resist both force und Kindness. Just, before we at rived a punitive expedition had beer out after them, as the result of & raid and had spent three misemable wee in the jungle without even coming contact with them I became tremendously interested in these pygmies, for I learned that the were among the most prim humans. If it is true, as sor | pologists believe, that iife nto being in southern Asia ittle aborigines mankind; for inhabited this | fore the mizr | southern 4 alities In two of these the Philippines thes peopl nds alone have they ed HOUGH 1 with |on the then t be forerunners of the world do: one a part of have traits on wild spot | Peninsula | their other | Is s the Andan remaine. * * o contact can the Andamanese who ally some the < from some of the other islar up to a spot 3 miles where ritish erected A few vears ago, gave up in despair ¢ them, the met in the « charged with Blair. occ ttempting negotia With him I went to this hut lucky enough to find severa A half dozen were standing ter's edge up. I thought at first that their sma but that fectly and was fam | ess had heen stepped they are indeed formed not until I realized h One of | than 4 feet 3 inches in height ornament hanging went d | astoni I,‘:h.ur | ning against her bare black breasts. | The forester laughed. “The wo | wear the skulls of their dead husb: as Joving souvenirs,” he said. And { then he told us how. when a man dies the little people blow on his face (o say good-bye, hury him and then de sert the camp in which living. After month back, dig up the bones and wash them {in the sea. Finally they hold a in honor of the dead man’s skull, pa { it With red ocher and white clay { Zive it and the jaw-bones to ihe | mourners, who wear them | about their necks on fiber strings | huge stones on a necklace | Another we on the ground, apparently | her child's arm. But when we | forward to see her. she wi | stood beside t w small ment en they are several they come <hie woman saw squat exami went row of little cuts around it body was covered with rows o The Andamanese believe th child i® born with evil spir him. So the mother three months lets the spirits escape through these cuts As @ the men and women have t bodies covered with scars AT, the request of our forester Andamanese held rlage ceremony. Two who had cently been married acted as the hride and groom. There was a dancf then the youns man pretended 1o flea intn the jungle. The other men ran afie him, bringing him back to where the bride was sitting on the ground rounded by the women With loud shouts, the men plumped the Jad down in the girl's lap. and all. men and women alike, fhrew themselves .on top of the bride groom. like foot hall plavers on a ball, weeping and wailing as | mortal grief. From 50 vards awa the bridal party looked like a h | black ball | Standing near this marriage hall | was a girl, her body covered with lor | zigzag designs in white. She refused to enter into the fun. The forester explained that she was a debutante as her paintings showed, and that marriage was much too important an affair for her to enter into a about It She had but “flower name." must be called after a flower whe she matures into womanhood She passes through an elaborate three-dav ceremony to recelve this name, durin which she is allowed neither to nor sleep. At the end of that time a name is selected for her after one of the jungie trees or plants in bloom at that time to show that the girl herself has bloomed into womanhood. Henceforth she is never known by her childhood name. She is now a young lady of few social restrictions and con siderable influence. But to my mind the thing about these pismy that they know no way of mak fire. Each family has a fire of their own, which ther keep always goinz ‘When they travel, they carry the fi with them, thinking it a gift from the gods that. if once extinguished they may never raligit. The Anda manese are the only human beinge 1 have ever heard of who do not know bow to make fire. When I had finished telling of this far-away island in 2 loncly sea, my globe-trotter said to me: “Great brown and vellow murderers and naked black savages on a jungle is land! You mean to tell me that white men are really content to live there?" And he added with scorn, “And white wemen, too?” Then, With a near neer, “Why?" “The answer is “We Anglo-Saxons will suffer any thing to stand on top of the heap. And of all Anglo-Saxons, the English gentleman has this spirit bred deep est. In India, he is already finding the old order changing. Therefore India is becoming intolerable. “But Murderers’ Island is the India of long ago. There at the present day the white man is a god, his lady a goddess. Around them are nothing but dark-skinned conviet murderers and black aboriginal pigmies. Far above these stand: the lordly whites, looking from their eminence on the Jesser beings below. The whites are the caste, Therefore, content.™ ACoprright, 19250 scars every & within every two or e and spor lately received plgmy h strangest nomads simple,” T replied