The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 10, 1898, Page 25

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 1898. 25 FIGHTING FOR ISLAM ON THE AFGHAN BORDER LAST ASSAULT OF THE ZEALOUS MOLLAH JO DRIVE THE GROSS BEFORE THE GRESGENT. re wounded and left on Afghanis- | ains, ur riffie and blow out your e a soldler.” HUS the omnisclent Kipling in | his advice to a young British it It is not pleasant ad- vice, certainly, but those who d the manner in which the wild hill tribes of Northern ite their dead enemies will s soundness. It is a long es- | d Mohammedan custom, al- part of their religion, to inflict ssible indignity on the body of and the women who perform this would bg little likely to use the soldier was still hed with a vivid pic- lculties attendant upon aign in Afgh an, where the face of a determined to make their way ipitous defiles and over cessible ¢ Lieutenant encer Churchill, a scion of the riborough fami has Jjust 'k which has taken Lon- He details his experi- lakand expeditionary which he drews is :assuring one for the who will eventually s little bill for cam- ve to foot Ir a holy war, Islam against nged under their th~ fridis commit anatical heroism which excite ation even of their enemies. 11 tells us how, in the midst of gagement, a Mollah or priest uddenly appear the pin- on , the holy 1 in his hand, encouragi both by gesture and v e heroic efforts. The e of the Mollah always acted on the superstitious > sc 'med, indeed, to bear fe, for, though the bullets a \ nd him, he was never sibility of abandoning the kes fightin the Eng- 1 very difficult matter. The no quart they v »de of honor, but it is not ivilized world. To the of a they add the craft of skin and the markmanship of a The world is presented with the tacle, “the strength of civil- n without its mercy.” ange to read of such bar- in these advanced da ter of fact, the strife . It is one of the leg: which ( at Brita mag- ssession in Inc have Afghanistan it , which - only bounda een d Engla a, tion of unruly hill neers whom no Even the 2 ¢ The countr; bdued by tribe: e Hindu Kush and the zes will pay tribute to no are always ready to whenever opportunity v name of the State is of quite , and is due to the Per- le a show of conquer- 8. The Persian rule, did not st long, v returned to its own unsettled nominally ruled by whoever e the throne, might being al- and law and justice no- in T WAS LIKE CLIMBING A WALL, AND A HUNDRED TIMES AS DANGEROUS, TRYING TO REACH THE AFRIDIS' STRONGHOLD. !as the British have his long | 1 and the | s constant state of activity andI unrest has made the Afghans one of the finest fighting races in the world, time and again found out to their cost. Despite the large force which was sent against the Afridis last autumn the tribes are still unsubdued and the task will all have to be done over again as soon as the return of spring renders renewed fight- ing possible, The mountainous nature of the coun- try gives its defenders every advantage. It is but a succession of precipitous ranges, each one forming an impregna- ble position which a few determined men can hold against thousands. And | when, as at Darghai, one mountain is captured, with great gallantry and loss of life, the victors are only confronted with another and equally strong posi- tion, which must likewise be stormed. The difficulty of obtaining supplies and ping open the line of communication renders the movement of any very large feree impossible, and the only way in which victory can eventually be se- cured is hemming the tribes up on sGme me ain top and literally starv- ing them into submission. This <tyle of border warfara i3 no new thing to the Guides and other regi- ments which constantly patrol northwest frontier of Indla. The only ifference is that of size. The expedi- 1 against the Afridis under- was s called a war. The small expedi- which are constantly going on to discipline some unruly tribe or other e never officially recognized in this the Government of India pru- y says as little about them as pos- le, and the British public never re- es that another successful little war been brought to a terminati Sometimes, as at Chittral, the massa- cre of a British party throws a ghastl light on the affair, and it become necessary to occupy the countrv force; at other times the troops, having wn up a few mud forts and de- ed a fow villages quist:y with- draw and amicable relations with the tribe are resumed. costs the Indian Government a nce of peace on the border, ghan campaign of 1839, it has been found cheaper to subsidize the tribes than to fight them. If a headman will govern his people in quiet, avoid raid- ing, and keep the passes open, then he will get an annual payment, if not, then he will have to fight the British. Be- fore any hostile operations can be carried on in Afghanistan, the passes must be secured. Especially the fam- ous Khyber Pass, through which the river Kabul makes its escape from the ranges of the Hindu Kush to the plains of the Punjaub. Every expedition of any size which has entered Afghanis- tan has gone through this pass, and it was the neglect to secure it properly which led to the terrible disaster of 184 one of the most severe defeats which British arms have ever sustained. It is always Russian intrigue which commences the trouble in Afghanistan. The recent rising of the Afridis is more than suspected to be due to a secret agitation carried on by Russian agents, though the Ameer has been careful to deny any complicity in the actions ot is unruly subjects. But in 1839 there ras no doubt about the matter. The Ameer of the day, Dost Mohammed. was openly dallying with Russia, and tk British sent an expedition under Sir John Keane, which dethroned him and placed Shah Shuja on the throne. Unfortunately Afghan treachery was horoughly understood then as s now, and the force of 8000 men, left to support the new monarch on the throne, took no precautions to keep open its line of retreat to India. 1In consequence the Afghans soon organ- ized an insurrection against their new | same time sufficiently rough to remove | | ruler and his friends, the English. The whole country rose, and after a num- of officers, and even helpless wo= men and children, Had been treacher- usly murdered, the British made a treaty withdraw from the country, on condi- | tion of being supplied with provisions and escorted in safety to the frontier. with the Afghans, agreeing to Neither clause of this agreement was | kept. In the middle of winter, in the | bitter cold, without food, the troops be- gan their disastrous retreat. Day after the | | 10unt of money to preserve even | since the first disastrous Af-| day they were attacked by large bodies of the enemy, and within a week the whole force, which numbered, inclua- ing campfollowers, women and chil- dren, some 26,000, was destroyed. The defeat, ot course, was redressed Kabul was retaken, but no subsequent victories could restore the lost army nor the innocent women and children who had fallen. And ever since then India has been most careful to keep control of the passes, hence the deter- mination with which she has gone to work, at any cost, to subdue the Afridi rising, for this tribe has been the guar- dian of the Khyber pass since 1880. Lord Roberts, now a British peer, but more familiarly known as “Bobs of Kandahar,” because of his famous march from Kabul to Kandahar, is rec- ognized as one of the greatest living authorities on the subject. In a re- markable speech which he made the other day in the House of Lords he ad- vocated, as the easiest way out of the difficulty, nothing less than the com- plete occupation of Afghanistan, and the adoption of a scientific frontier cal- culated to block all Russian advances toward India. Probably the enormous cost of this scheme will prevent its adoption, but it would have the ad- vantage of making the British frontier conterminous with that of Russia, so that the game of intrigue hitherto so successfully carried on in the buffer state of Afghanistan would have to cease. Also all the unruly tribes would become British subjects and their paci- fication would be only a matter of time and tactful treatment. How little we really know of the in- terior of this part of Asia has been painfully illustrated by the awful fate of Walter Savage Landor, the well known writer and explorer. Landor | was fired with ambition to visit the sacred city of L’hassa, the mysterious home of the Lamas, in Thibet, one of the few spots in the world which has never been explored by Europeans. sle started with a large expedition, but t most of his followers deserted him, and the natives, discovering his identity, made him a prisoner. Apparently with the object of seeing how much pain a white man could bear | without dying, they subjected him to | every variety of diabolical torture, and Landor was only rescued at the last | moment by a British expedition which | heard of his predicament. And now, with a courage which borders on rash- n a young American, Mr. W. Jame- | son Reid. is about to attempt the same fi His plan is to get himself smug- d into L'hassa in a basket of goods, fe | gle | slung on a camel, | where Landor failed, it will be a re- markable testimony to American enter- prise, but ‘the odds are very much against him. M. ROSE-SOLEY. —_——— The Beautifying Bath. It is not infrequently said that a | daily bath is weakening. This is such a | great mistake that it is difficult to un- | derstand how it is ever made. A daily bath is just as necessary to bodily pur- | ity as daily prayers are to soul purity, | and it should be as conscientiously tal | en. that cannot be recalled, this observa- tion has come to my notice, and its | truth made {ts impression a lasting | one: “A lady bathes not to get clean, | but to stay clean.” It is true that remaining too long in the bath may be weakening, but a | quick bath in either very warm or even | hot water, followed by a cold dash, has only good effects. A refreshing and practical bath is one | | in moderately hot water with a little | sea salt in it—sea salt is practical and | | cheap—pure white soap, a sponge and a cheese cloth washrag. Cheese cloth is both practical and cheap, and at the thoroughiy dry rubbing corn meal or bran over it makes the skin soft and velvety. The use of a bag of bran instead of a washrag is much favored by the French women for the softening effect it has upon the water and its tendency to make the skin delicately white and smooth. But no bath is perfect in its results unless followed by a brisk and vigorous friction of the hands: or rub- bing with a coarse towel.—Katherine Eggleston Junkermann in* March Woman’s Home Companion. Should he succeed | | In some place, and at some time | {all dirt and not rough enough to| | seratch. The sponge must serve as the | shower bath, and after the body is! | | | i | | | | [ | waving the holy flag of Islam. | foe, rolling great rocks before them as tled all around, he escaped unscathed. HE less Informed orthodox Greeks in Alexandria will assure you that their Easter Sunday— which does not fall upon the same day as that of the Cath- lie Greeks—is regulated by the cessation of the celebration of the Jew- ish passover which it immedlately fol- lows. . ‘With them Easter services begin at midnight and continue until dawn. The day is regarded as a holiday and also the most important one of the year, and, if possible, no member of their usually large oriental families s ever absent from such, as to remain away on this occasion i1s considered a great misfortune. Every one is attired as handsomely as his means allow, and many as- sume the Greek national costume and medals or badges are suitably dis- played. Among the vast congregations none watch the ceremony of the swaying lights which accompany the first burst of music, or follow the long and im- pressive services with more interest, if not comprehension, than the children, who have previously taken such active interest in decorating the church can- dles with sprigs of olive upon Palm Sunday, and who apparently have no grenent desire for their beds or slum- er. ‘When that part of the service is re- peated which tells of Christ’s ascension from the tomb, which is the signal for the choir to swell into joyful musle, and the deafenin~ reports of the vari- ous firearms discharged about the ca. thedral doors to ring out, they show their great appreciation of the absorb. ing sounds, and the impression that Easter Sunday is the one day of the year is indelibly stamped upon their minds. Instead of their usual simple break- fast, the meal served on their return home and which breaks the Lenten fast, always strictly observed by them, begins with song, consists of many courses and ends with dessert. After this meal presents are distributed among the immediate members of the family, usually consisting of useful things, such as necessary clothing among the poorer classes, while the rich give costumes both handsome ana EASTER CUSTOMS ‘ OF MANY £ANDS by the recipients for being Easter gifts. | of their canton, meet their friends and | The home ceremonies disposed of, the | forming parties take the children pic- | day is given up to calling upon friends and recelving guests, and every one is prepared to entertain. His fanatical follow As with other nations. eggs figure conspicuously upon this day, and greax | care and often skill is given to thelr decoration. These are taken as gifts to friends, and among the children a particularly thick-shelled one is re- served by. each, to be pitted against those of their friends in the hope ot winning numerous others, The tiny cup of black coffee which it is always customary to offer callers is upon that day replaced by numerous sweetmeats, cakes of all kinds predomi- nating, from the huge pyramid-shaped loaf to the small imitation of an egg, which proves to be a spoonful of frult and splces. The great quantity of eggs designed as gifts for calling friends are also ar- ranged In attractive or suggestive shapes for the occasion, such as the pyramids, crocodiles, a familiar cathe- dral, and even the Sphinx is attempted. Friends greet each other with mu- tually expressed wishes for many hap- py returns of the day, and father, sons, brothers and male friends emphasize these wishes by kisses and embraces bestowed upon one another as do the gentler sex. Their Easter rejoicings extend throughout the following Mon- day and Tuesday, and it is a time for general good will, for the settling of past differences, and, like our Christ- mas, a time to remember the poor. Easter Sunday in the Canton of Chaux de Fonds, 8witzerland, is given over to amusements for children prin- cipally. It is not unusual for the snow to lie deeply in the gardens at Easter, but the little baskets claimed by each child of a family have been filled with colored eggs and hidden among the shrubs, and are perhaps covered un- der the snow still falling. The gardens are all alive with little bobbing heads as they hunt the bas- kets, representing nests, which the hares of the forest are supposed to fill. ‘When the nests have been found and the little numb hands warmed, they at- tend 9 o'clock service with their parents and remain for Sunday-school, which begins at 11 o’clock, for each one is sure to receive a beautiful card picture and an egg, nicely painted, from her teacher. After the church services the entire costly, which are always more valued family, dressed in the national costume o el LAST MAD RUSH OF THE HILL MEN. | The Mollah, sacred teacher of the Koran, sprang to the topmost pinnatcle of the crag, polnting with one hand to the British soldiers below, in the other they went. s pressed close behind him, and leaping over the crest of the mountain, hurled themselves downward on the he Mollah seemed to bear a charmed life, for though hundreds of rifles were aimed at him, and bullets whis- though the | nicking, as they term it, | picnic is held at an inn instead of under the trees as later in the season. Everybody buys the enormous braid- ed Easter cakes, displayed in the bak- eries, and which are filled with almond kernels and raisins, and the children pass their day with eating cakes, sweetmeats and in - laying games, they as well as the Greek children counting that the best of all in which they try to break the shells of their companions’ eggs with one they hope may be thicker, for the boy or girl who wins the most Easter eggs in this way is quite a llon with the rest. On returning home the children of each family shell the eggs that remain, and a huge dish of salad is made from them, with a simple dressing and with- out greens, which they partake of for supper. After this the father amuses them as he himself was amused on Easter evening when a boy, by hang- ing beyond easy reach a pole, from five to six feet in length, wcund with tis- sue paper in the national colors of green, red and white, and upon which he has strung great delicious crullers shaped like pretzels, and to secure them the children must jump very high in- deed. A former resident of this Swiss vil- lage remarked that the streets of American towns upon the 5th of July presented the same untidy apppearance as those of her childhood's home the Monday following Easter, with the dif- ference that one was thickly strewn with ragged, exploded firecrackers and the other with shattered eggsheils. In Mexico the day: which follows “Glorious Saturday” is not a day of feasting, as FEaster Sunday is there considered the last day of Lent and the people are still observing the fast. The altars in the churches are, how- ever, relieved of the gloomy black dra- peries which covered them and decked with flowers. The people also cast aside the mourning of Holy Thursday | and appear in their brightest attire, the dreary wooden grind of the matracas give place to pealing bells. The tables filling the squares about the church doors, and upon which all kinds of tempting edibles, sweets, children’s toys and harmless drinks were displayed for sale during holy week are removed. The voung men and women, at other times sternly restricted, who took ad- vantage of the throngs of worshipers and the preoccupation of their elders i to exchange glances and form acquain- tances, now walk solemnly or demure- ly into the churches, their thoughts ap- parently occupled with nothing save the services, beginning with high mass. Amid the pealing of bells at the stroke of 9, the hour at which Christ was supposed to have arisen, the effigies of Judas, which have been filled with ex- plosives, are touched off, and with the deafening reports and vibrations Eas- ter services begin. The Emerald 1 is in no wise be- hind the rest of Christendom in _its celebration of Easter. It is hailed as a day of joy and gladness by all good Christians. The festivities as a matter of course are enjoyed in proportion to the means at hand, and, in the rural districts, usually end with a little inno- cent merrymaking. The day comes when nature is begin- ning to look beautiful. She is already clothed in her garment of rich Irish green, and the primrose—the first flower of the spring—greets the ev2 in all di- rections. At the sign of the Bell, on the road to Paddy Hostrty Bept te shebi y T e a nate shebeen. e —Old song. Along the shores of Lough Mask and Lough Corrib, in the province of Connaught, the villages at the time I write of were very numerous and thickly populated with a sturdy and healthy looking peasantry. Their habits were primitive and their mode of living from necessity very simple. Tak- ing\{into consideration the way they were handicapped in the struggle for existence, they were wonderfully light- hearted. It might be some wayside shebeen or more likely a widow who, to try to keep the wolf—or the agent, which is about the same—from the door, would try to turn an honest penny by giving the cake on “Alisther Sunday.” The music comes next in order and the best piper available is engaged to furnish it. Other minor preparations are seen to and when the cake is brought home little else remains to be done. Easter Sunday begins with a dance. It may not be generally known, and the information be rather startling, that the sun dances in that country on Eas- ter morn! Well, if the outside world stands in ignorance of it that's no fault of the people who live by Lough Mask. All who are able are out of bed at dawn to see that wonderful perform- ance. Nor are they disappointed. He is sure to be at his brightest on that particular morning, and he does dance most gleefully for at least fifteen min- utes after rising, to the intense delight of his beholders, then dismissing them in happy mood to enjoy the Easter egg feast and prepare for the religious ob- servance of the day. Early in the afternoon preparations for the dance begin. It is to be held out of doors; usually on the public road, a potato garden being of more benefit to the Irish cottager than a “lawn” and far more in keeping with his_humble abode. The road is broad and in good repair and a convenient | spot, well freed from dust, answers the | purpose very well. Borrowed and im- | provised seats are placed on both sides, | the piper’s chair in its proper place and all’s ready. A long-handled churn dash is fas- tened securely on the garden wall. The cake is brought out, covered with a | snow white cloth, placed on the dash in full view, and there left to play its part. The piper has arrived and is “dis- coorsing” a few plaintive and sweet | old melodies—some of which even a Patti might delight in—to the admira- tion of the nearest neighbors, who have come to welcome him. He plays on the instrument known as the union pipes, the wind being supplied by bellows at tached to the elbow. He is blind—most Irish pivers are. I knew of but one who was not. Yet he finds his way along | highways and byways without trouble. | His services are paid for by the danc- ers, each of whom drops a coin on the plate that is placed beside him. “Pay- ing the piper” is proverbial. The young people may now be seen coming from every direction. Their make-up is not quite as romantic look- ing as that of the Swiss or French peasant, but they more than equal it | by their fine, healthy appearance. Dan- | cing has commenced, and all seem to | be enjoying themselves. The dances are | not of the hugging variety. They are more of the “stand off” kind. Jigs and reels were good enough fc* them, with an occasional country dance, led by one or two of the more accompiished. The dances go merrily on until dusk. Nearing that time the cake, which hith- | erto, beyond a passing glance, has been | taken little notice of, is now becoming | of deep interest, particularly to the wo- | men folks. “And I wonder who’s goin’ | to bring in the cake,” is whispered from one to another. The last dance is called, and it prom- ises to be a lively one. So it is. One couple after another drop out, and with a bow and curtsey to the musician | stand aside. It may be two or it may | be but one couple who now hold the | floor and dance with more than usual | spirit. If the former—which seldom happens—one couple good naturedly gives way. The other keep on dancing |and putting In their best steps, the | crowd cheering. After tiring themselves out both walk in the direction of the cake amid more cheering. The “boy’” | climbs up, takes it off its perch and | puts it in the “Colleen’s” apron, which { she holds in readiness to receive it. She | carries it in—weighty as it is—and is | followed by “both their houses,” to do | honor to the occasion and the land- lady. | The cutting of the cake devolves on the lady who Lrought it in. She first cuts out a liberal center piece which she hands to the landlady. Then glanc- ing around she measures the house and cuts accordingly. The next day an elderly lady may be heard to ask, ‘“and who brought in the cake last night?” iThen,on being informed, “Was it now ?"” | “Troth an’ sorra purtier couple in the parish; an’ its a weddin’ we'll soon | be havin’.”