Munda

“ Their code of social morality is not strict, and a girl who is seduced by a man of the caste is simply made over to him as his wife, the ordinary bride-price being exacted from him. He must also feed the caste-fellows, and any money which is received by the girl’s father is expended in the same manner. Members of Hindu castes and Gonds may be admitted into the community, [593] but not the Munda tribes, such as the Mundas themselves and the Kharias and Korwas; and this, though the Turis, as has been seen, are themselves an offshoot of the Munda tribe. ”

“ But it is now shown in the Linguistic Survey that the Savars have a Munda dialect. In Chota Nāgpur this has been forgotten, and the tribe speak Hindi or Uriya like the Bhuiyas, but it remains in the hilly tracts of Ganjām and [309] Vizagapatām.3 Savara is closely related to Kharia and Juāng, the dialects of two of the most primitive Munda tribes. The Savars must therefore be classed as a Munda or Kolarian tribe, and since Colonel Dalton identified the Bhuiyas with the Savars of Chota Nāgpur, his evidence appears really to be in favour of the Kolarian origin of the Bhuiyas. ”

“ The objections of Mr. Carter to modern Monda being the site of the Roman city are, first, the want of space in its vicinity for two such vast hosts to be drawn up in battle array; and, secondly, the little distance of the existing town from the river Sigila and city of Cártama, which, according to an ancient inscription, referring to the repairs of a road from Munda to Cártama, he states was twenty miles. ”

“ Mountains coverd with snow were in sight again this morn so that there is probably a chain of them runs within the countrey. Land makes in smooth hills like downs with little or no wood in sight; after breakfast white cliffs again look as barren as ever. Vast shoals of fish were about the ship, pursued by as large flocks of brownish birds a little bigger than a pigeon Nectris munda. ”

“ The presumption is that the advance of the Aryans or Hindus drove the Mundas from the open country to the seclusion of the hills and forests. The Munda and Dravidian languages are shown by Sir G. Grierson to be distinct groups without any real connection.
Drawing water from the village well
Though the physical characteristics of the two sets of tribes display no marked points of difference, the opinion has been generally held by ethnologists who know them that they represent two distinct waves of immigration, and the absence of connection between their languages bears out this view. ”

“ Cæsar, after the affair in Africa, goes to Rome; and the historian begins his chronicle by telling us that he is detained there "muneribus dandis,"—by the distribution of rewards,—keeping his promise, no doubt, to those veterans whom he won back to their military obedience by calling them "Quirites," or Roman citizens. [1] The sons of Pompey, Cnæus and Sextus, have collected together a great number of men to support their worn-out cause, and we are told that in the battle of Munda more than 30,000 men perished. ”

“ We rose to make room for her and I brought her a chair. There was nothing else one could do. There is almost no twilight in that part of East Africa; until dark there is scarcely a hint that the day is waning. She sat with us for twenty or thirty minutes making small talk, her maid watching us from a window above, until the sun went down with almost the suddenness of gas turned off, and in a moment we could scarcely see one another’s faces.
Then came the proprietor to the door, with his best ex-missionary air of knowledge of all earth’s ways, their reason and their trend. ”

“ Only the creature's screams reverberated through the jungle, like a belated echo to the restless paroquets.
“He will sleep less easily for a week or two!” hazarded Mahommed Gunga, stepping back toward Cunningham. In the sudden darkness the white breeches showed and the whites of his eyes, but little else; his voice growled like a rumble from the underworld.
“Why did you do it, risaldar? What did he say?”
“It was enough, bahadur, that he sat on that stone; for that alone he had been beaten! What he said was but the babbling of priests. All priests are alike. ”

“ Alive, he had been worth three mohurs, but he died while they bargained for him!—Quick!”
“I am black, sahib, and the night is black. I am old, and none would believe me active. They watch the gates, but the bats fly in and out.”
“Find out, then, what has happened to my horses, left at the caravansary; give that information to the Alwa-sahib. Tell the Miss-sahib at the mission where I am. Tell her whither I have sent thee. Tell the Alwa-sahib that a Rangar—by name Ali Partab—sworn follower of the prophet, and servant of the Risaldar Mahommed Gunga—is in need and asks his instant aid. ”

“ She told."
"How did you make her tell? The she-devil is more cunning than a cobra!"
Jinendra's high priest smiled complacently.
"A servant of the gods, such as I am, is not altogether without power.
I found a way. She told."
"I, too, will find a way!" muttered Gungadhura to himself. Then to the priest: "What did she say? Why did she go to the commissioner?"
"To ask a favor."
"Of course! What favor?"
"That she may go to Europe."
"Then there is no longer any doubt whatever! By Saraswati (the goddess of wisdom) I know that she has discovered where the treasure is!" ”

“ It was a woman’s voice, and it puzzled me indescribably, for a sick man’s wits don’t work swiftly as a rule when he lies between sleeping and waking.
“Listen!” said the voice again. “I must come to terms with you three men! You are the only hope left me! I have no friends in Muanza—and none whom I trust! Those Greeks and that Goanese would sell me to the first bidder, and these Germans are worse than dogs!”
“But who are you?” I asked stupidly.
For answer she held the lantern so that I could see her face. ”

“ Yet what a fool he, King, had been not to appreciate at once that Rewa Gunga must be her lover. Why should he not be? Were they not alike as cousins? And the East does not love its contrary, but its complement, being older in love than the West, and wiser in its ways in all but the material. He had been blind. He had overlooked the obvious—that from first to last her plan had been to set herself and this Rewa Gunga on the throne of India!
He washed and went through the mummery of muslim prayers for the watchful mullah's sake, and climbed on to his bed. ”

“ It might be well, then, to set the pace a little slower, for a man looks better on a fresh horse than on a weary one!”
“I'm thinking, Mahommed Gunga, of the two McCleans and of General Byng, who is expecting us. There is little time to lose.”
“I, too, consider them, sahib. It is we Rangars who must do the sabre work. ALL, sahib—ALL—depends now on the impression created on the men awaiting thee! Rein in a little. Thy father's name, thine own, and mine and Alwa's weigh for much on thy side; but have a sound horse between thy legs and a trumpet in thy throat when we get there! ”

“ Fred demanded.
“About our business. Why are we here. What will we do. What do we know. What do I know about you. What do you know about me. Why do I serve you. How did I come to take service with you. To what place will we travel next, and when. How much money have we with us. Have we friends or acquaintances in Muanza. Do you, bwana, carry any letters in your pockets. Of what do you speak when you suppose no man is listening. Bwana, my heart is very sad in me! Those Greeks tell lies, and the Germans stir trouble in a big pot like the witches! ”

“ There came at last a morning when the sun shone through jeweled mist—a morning with scent in it that set the horses in the hold to snorting—a dawn that smiled, as if the whole universe in truth were God's. A dawn, sahib, such as a man remembers to judge other dawns by. That day we came in sight of France.
Doubtless you suppose we cheered when we saw Marseilles at last. Yet I swear to you we were silent. We were disappointed because we could see no enemy and hear no firing of great guns! ”

“ If the map was anything to go by we could reach Mount Elgon from Nairobi by any of three wild roads. Fred and I underscored the names of several places with a fountain pen.
“And say!” said Will. “Look out of the window! If we once got away into country like that, who could follow us!”
“But you can’t get away!” said a weary voice from the upper berth. “I’m Brown of Lumbwa. That’s my name, gents, and I know, because I tried! Thought I was sound asleep, didn’t you! Well, I weren’t! Listen to me, what happens. You start off. They get wind of it. ”

“ Shall I lurk, and call to the sahiba to escape to my protection in the dark? Nay, nay! She is a woman, unused to darkness or the Hills—one woman against eleven men. If she attempts it, they will slay her. If she comes to me, then clumsily she comes; and they detect us both, and slay us both, and gone is mine honor! What else? Shall I stay there, then, and wait for Ram-is-den to come to me in search of the sahiba? Nay, by the Forty Martyrs! Ram-is-den will pick a feud with me, not waiting for a true account. In haste and anger he will smite, for his honor's sake, because his wife is lost! ”

“ Beneath her were ten eggs. The hen is yonder, sahibs, in the corner, proving that I lie not. I cut her throat before the life left. Those I hid where I could find them presently, and then crept to the woman's door. But I dared not beat on it, and she slept like a bear in winter.
“None the less, it was dark, for the peak above the shoulder of the hill shut off the moon—an unwise situation for a man's house, whose wife and Um Kulsum are one!—and a beam projected. Moreover, there are crannies in the stone into which a man's toes may be thrust. Allah is my friend. ”

“ Alwa was swearing behind the thick teak door that closed behind him and Cunningham and Mahommed Gunga. “We have made a good beginning! With the wolf in a trap, what has the goat to dread? Howrah may chuckle himself to sleep! And I—I, too, by the beard of God's prophet!—I, too, may laugh, for, with Jaimihr under lock and key, what need is there to ride to the aid of a Hindoo Rajah? I am free again!”
“Alwa-sahib!” ”

“ The brown skins of the Somalis blended with the night; Stanley’s khaki shirt was of a piece with it; and the boat’s sides, dripping phosphorus, were but another splash of dancing light amid the luminous, life-laden blackness. They were low-sided—half-hidden in the trough of a beam-on Red Sea swell—rising over it second after second, only to sink between again, invisible. And behind them, up above their heads, the revolving light on Matthew kept up its ceaseless vigil, winking at them every sixty seconds with a bloodshot eye. ”

“ The poor fool thinks he will marry her! Little she knows of the German method! I am alone! I have not even a servant any longer! I have walked through the shadows from the commandant’s house, only lighting this lantern after I was inside the hedge. Nobody knows I am here. One watchman was asleep; the others did not see me. All you need fear is those Greeks. ”

“ We could see their mules, like brown insects, tied under a tree, and the cattle dotted here and there, some lying down, some feeding.
“At last!” said Brown. “Boys, they’re our meat! There’s a tree to hang the Greeks and the Goa to! When we’ve done that, if you’ll all come back with me I’ll send to Nairobi for an extra jar of Irish whisky, and we’ll have a spree at Lumbwa that’ll make the fall of Rome sound like a Sunday-school picnic! We’re in German territory now, all right. There’s not a white man for a hundred miles in any direction—except your friend that’s coming along behind. ”

“ That was a true miracle if ever men sat and saw one. The congregation moaned like the wind in a forest, swaying their bodies and murmuring that God is great. Ali Baba went out by the south door, minded, I expect, to tell the crowd outside what marvels had been seen to happen. And the Sheikh, minded too, to make the most of things while the impression was still at its height, began to thread his way toward the pulpit.
“We’d better beat it quick!” said Grim and to save time we vaulted over the pulpit-rail into the utter darkness between the back wall and the door we entered by. ”

“ Another took her place.
“It is only San-fun-ho who dares to look into the Jade for long,” said the Lama solemnly. “It shows them all the horror of their lower selves. They look by moonlight. They must drape themselves, for they have much to overcome, and there is magic in the Jade. None but my chela—none but San-fun-ho—dares to face it in the full light of the sun.”
One by one the seventeen girls appeared, looked deep into the Jade, and vanished into darkness.
“They are not bad,” said the Lama. “Not bad, my son. There are not so many better women. Do you dare to look?” ”

“ Thou wilt come with an escort, as befits a prince's wife! But how should I know that the Rangars would prove friends of mine? How should I know that it is not all a trap?”
“You will have my promise to depend on.”
“Truly! And there will be how many hundred men to override the promise of one woman? Nay! My word is good; my promise holds; but on my own conditions! Help me to escape. Then follow me to Howrah City. Come in advance of thy Rangar escort. By that I will know that the Rangars and this Cunningham are my friends—otherwise they would not let thee come. ”