Page 24 - To Dragma October 1929

22 T o D R A G M A

an Indian coolie perched on the roof of a building on the wharf. He was
naked except for a loin cloth and was very busy picking cooties off his
shirt which he had spread across his knees, and was throwing them on
to the ground below. He didn't consider killing them, for to take life
would have been a sin.

T w o days later we reached Karachi which was to be my home for the
next few years. N o w Karachi changed all m y ideas of India for it is
not a jungle w i t h dense undergrowth, snakes and w i l d animals. I t ' s very
flat and dry and almost entirely free from vegetation, while the only
wild animals I have seen are in cages in the zoo.

However, I wasn't disappointed, for I found many interesting features.
Karachi, too, is a modern c i t y of 300,000, some broad, paved streets,
a few street-cars, electric lights and even a filling station or two and a
few taxis. The street-cars are called trams and run on tracks but have
no overhead trolley, f o r they are r u n b y gasoline engines.

The Europeans, and by Europeans is meant white people, live in
Karachi Cantonment, the army post. There are several regiments of
British soldiers there and a total of 2,000 white people not counting the
troops. Most of these are English, a few Greeks, a few Italians and
fourteen Americans.

But in spite of all this Westernism, Karachi is still the East. I t
abounds in Mohammedan mosques and H i n d u temples, sacred cows
wandering aimlessly about the main streets, brightly-dressed Indians
and innumerable brown babies—some naked except for heavy silver
anklets and bracelets—some little girls wearing just a long full skirt and
Ifttle boys with merely a shirt, the tails nearly flapping the ground.
Indians are very fond of children, especially boys, and have large families,
for each man must have a son to light his funeral pyre. A n d certainly
the babies are sweet with their big dark eyes, heavily pencilled w i t h
black for festive occasions, long lashes, heavy black eye-brows and thick
black hair which is kept well oiled.

There are a few automobile trucks, but most of the hauling is done
by camels and bullocks. The bullocks work in pairs and draw square,
two-wheeled carts. The camels work singly and are harnessed to low,
flat four-wheeled carts. T i n y donkeys are also used to carry stones and
sand f r o m one place to another. T h e y sometimes draw small carts, but
are usually loaded as pack animals and trot quickly down the road w i t h
a heavy bag slung across their backs, followed by a small boy rattling
a can of stones to make them run. These donkeys are only about three
feet high with slim legs and tiny feet. Sometimes men ride these animals,
but they must sit way back on the donkey's hips near the tail and then,
if they are tall, hold their feet up to keep them from dragging on the
ground. I t was just such a donkey Christ rode when H e first entered
Jerusalem.

Housekeeping in India is very different from this country. Six servants
are as few as one may have, for each man has his own little job and won't
do any other. For instance the cook only cooks the food and does
the marketing and washes his pots and pans. The Hernial washes the