KELVIN
Never a mark of Mortal Man
But ye delved to a greater depth—
Never a truth of Mortal Truths
But ye stirred it where it slept.
Never a veil but ye drew aside,
Till ye came where the Wide Ways part,
And ye bowed a head as ye lowly said,
“Oh God, how fair Thou art.”
NOTES
| The Dyak Chief | [13] |
The Dyaks, a “brown” race, are the savage inhabitants of Central Borneo,and are said to have come originally from the Malay Peninsula, but tohave since been gradually driven into the center of the island by theinflux of the present Malays, who now inhabit the coasts and often farinland, especially up the rivers. | |
The Dyaks, though an old, aboriginal Malay stock, differ radically fromthe Malays in nearly every particular. | |
They are a dark-skinned, strong, well-knit, square-shouldered andbeautifully muscled type of men, neither tall nor short, fat nor lean,but comparable to the typical American cavalryman or football halfbackor trained middle-weight boxer or wrestler. | |
They have small, dark, heady, snake-like eyes, high cheek bones andstraight black hair, often “bobbed” at the neck and frequently with aband around it, giving them much the appearance of North AmericanIndians, were it not that their eyes and noses are smaller. They affecta breech-cloth only, excepting for the sake of warmth, when they don alight cloth jacket or a fibre coat, the latter being a simple affair,hanging straight, with a slit at the top through which the head isplaced, after the manner of a present-day American Army “poncho.” | |
A chief is distinguished by having pheasant feathers falling down theback of one of these coats, and in the town or “kampong” of Olong Liko Iwas the recipient of the unusual privilege of having a friendly Dyakchief take off his cloak-like garment that I had been examining, put iton over my head, and insist on my keeping it—which it is needless tosay I was only too glad to do—and which I still have preserved as themost valued treasure of all the many that I brought back from mytravels. | |
The women are of the typical heavy-waisted savage category, frequentlywearing something above the waist, but whose usual costume consistsmerely of a long cloth, resembling a skirt, wrapped around their legs. | |
Truth compels me to ungallantly state the ladies are not prepossessing. | |
The chief occupations of the Dyaks are hunting, fishing and tendingtheir little truck-gardens, which mode of life probably accounts fortheir average splendid physique. | |
| Moeroeng | [13] |
The Moeroeng (River) is a long stream in Central Borneo that unites withthe Djoeloi to form the Barito, the latter being one of the great riversof Borneo, flowing from its center in a general southerly direction, andemptying into the Java Sea a short distance to the west of thesoutheastern extremity of the island. Pronunciation: Moeroeng=Mooroong:Djoeloi=Jooloi. | |
| kampong | [13] |
Kampong is a native Dyak village, and consists of from one to three orfour long houses, and sometimes small detached ones. The long house, thecharacteristic building, is anywhere from fifty to two or three hundredfeet in length, elevated, on poles, from eight to twenty feet in theair. The sides of the houses are of rough boards or of bark and theroofs usually of bark shingles. The age of the dwellings can be told bythe height they stand above the ground, those on the highest poles beingthe oldest ones, because of the former greater savagery of, and morefrequent warfare between, the natives. Here literally we have a case ofthe home being the fortress. | |
Within, the long house is of one of two arrangements; either it consistsof a huge hall, often decorated with the skull and horns of the chase,running practically the entire length, and with family rooms openinginto it and bake-rooms or kitchens at both ends, or the house consistsmerely of one very long room without partitions, the different families,with their crude cooking hearths, “squatting” around the sides of theroom at intervals of ten or fifteen feet. Occasionally some of thefamilies will hang up cloth divisions. Here, truly, we have the communalscheme of living carried to its ultimate extreme. | |
| headless waist | [13] |
The Dyaks are the famous “head-hunters” of Borneo, and although theirinhuman proclivities of procuring heads for their belts, in order togive them certain distinctions, among them, the prerogative of marrying,have, at the present time been largely suppressed by the Dutchauthorities, nevertheless a traveler’s trip through Central Borneo isdangerous owing to the fact that some actual head-hunting bands arestill roaming the dense jungles through which he is passing. | |
Due to pure luck my path was not crossed by any of these outlaw nomadtroops, which is possibly why I am writing this to-day, as one whiteman, even though armed with a long 38 Army Colt revolver could probablymake little headway against a whole band of these savages. My threeMalay coolies were highly trustworthy and efficient, but I am notpositive as to exactly what extent I could have counted on them in theeventuality of an actual attack. | |
| lianes | [14] |
Long, bare, tropical, vine-like growths that sometimes wrap themselvesaround the trunk of it tree, and sometimes hang from the branchesstraight to the ground. | |
| leeches | [15] |
Little gray leeches, up to half an inch in length that, as a barefootedperson walks through the jungle, attach themselves to his feet andankles and suck the blood, until removed or until, having gotten theirfill and swollen to many times their former size, fall back to theground satiated. | |
In the case of a white man, they will burrow through the seam at theback of his sock to get the blood they crave. | |
| proa | [16] |
Pronounced prow, and is any small crude Dyak or Malay Bornese boat,propelled by paddling. | |
| blow-spear | [17] |
A spear with a hollow shaft through which the Dyaks blow a light, woodendart or arrow. I have seen these in Java and the Philippines also. | |
| mandauw (or parang) | [17] |
Pronounced mandow, and is the typical Dyak sword with a straight bladebroadening gradually until near the end, then abruptly narrowing againto a point. It is sharpened on one edge only. | |
| chief poles | [17] |
High wooden flag-like poles, carved near the base, and with long tasselsfalling from the top. Erected in front of the long house in memory ofdead kampong (village) chiefs. | |
| Moeroeng rapids | [21] |
The Moeroeng River has magnificent rapids, which I and my three Malaycoolies shot on my return by river from Olong Liko to Poeroek Tjahoe. | |
| tom-toms | [24] |
Round, drum-like, metal musical instruments, beaten with a stick havinga large knob. | |
| (You know how far it comes) | [28] |
Refers to the fact that salt is precious to the Dyaks, and must begotten from the distant coasts, through traders. | |
| Sick-man’s Drums | [28] |
The heating of the tom-toms, with the playing of other “musical”instruments, when a Dyak is sick. The nearer death, the louder thebeating. Supposed to be very efficacious. In this particular case the“Sick-man’s Drums” were, of course, beaten ironically. | |
| greasy cakes | [29] |
Thick, round, half-cooked, greasy, Dyak cakes, utterly indigestible andunprepossessing. | |
| On the Water-Wagon | [33] |
Slang for “not drinking.” | |
| “the mill,” | [33] |
The guard-house or soldier prison. | |
| Army of Pacification | [35] |
| Islands | [33] |
The Philippine Islands. | |
| Solitary | [38] |
“Solitary confinement” is punishment meted out to particularlyobstreperous prisoners or to those under very severe sentence. | |
| calaboose | [38] |
Guard-house or soldier prison. | |
| jug | [38] |
Guard-house or soldier prison. | |
| Ten and a Bob | [39] |
A prisoner’s sentence of ten years and a dishonorable discharge from theArmy. | |
| The Isle | [39] |
Refers to Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, used as a discharge stationfor time-expired soldiers returning from the Philippines after theInsurrection of 1899-1902. On Angel Island there was also a militaryconvict station for serious offenders, who had to break stone. | |
“the makings” 39. | |
The paper and tobacco for cigarettes | |
| The Sultan Comes to Town | [40] |
The Major’s name was Sour—if we speak in antithesis. | |
| Shah Jehan | [55] |
One of the Great Moguls of India, who at Agra built the lovely, whitemarble Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his favorite wife, who died in 1629. | |
Near the city of Aurangabad, in the northwestern part of the state ofHyderabad, is the so-called “Little Taj,” the Mausoleum of Rabi’aDurrani, the wife of a later Great Mogul, Auraugzeb. Though built onlyof stucco, and not kept in the same immaculate condition as the TajMahal, the “Little Taj,” with its inset, pointed arches, viewed at anadvantageous distance of several hundred feet, from just within theground’s entrance, is to me really more beautiful than the splendid TajMahal itself, because the height of the “Little Taj,” and, inclusively,of its arches, is greater in proportion to its base than is that of itsfamous predecessor. The result is a more delicate, lofty and inspiringeffect—which effect appears, obviously, to be the most apropos andessential one to obtain in erecting mausoleums of this nature. | |
Close, detailed inspection of the two tombs would present adiametrically opposite analysis, but in work such as this, it would seemthat the most crucial aspect is the ensemble and not the minutiæ orfinis. | |
| Rajputana stars | [57] |
When in Rajputana, a great state of northwestern India, I was impressedby the brilliancy of the stars on a clear night. It may have been due toatmospheric or other conditions, but whatever the cause, in no otherpart of the World have I seen such magnificent stars. | |
| tulwar | [57] |
The large, splendid, curved sword of India. | |
| Flaming Trees | [57] |
The trees that spread out like great umbrellas, covered on top withmasses of blood-orange colored blossoms, and called “Flame of theForest,” though in the Philippines we usually nicknamed them “FireTrees.” | |
| Nippon | [105] |
Let us be charitable, and hope that through contact with outside nationsthe Japanese will eventually be able to eradicate their traits ofcharacter, though the probability, much less the possibility, that theleopard can really change its spots, is remote indeed. Among the poorerclasses and in the rural interior of Japan, you will, however, sometimesfind at least two mitigating attributes, simplicity and kindliness. | |
| My Loves | [112] |
The loves here referred to are picked at random from among the many ofthe World Wanderer. The second stanza refers to the breeze of the SouthSeas; the third stanza, to the North Wind; the fourth stanza, to theSea; the fifth stanza, to the Sunrise; the sixth stanza, to the Sunset. | |
| C. Q. D. | [138] |
The old “C. Q. D.,” or present-day “S. O. S.,” the wireless telegraphicsignal of ships in distress. | |
| Kelvin | [159] |
The great British scientist. Born in Belfast, Ireland in 1824. Died nearLargs, Scotland in 1907. His name is among those the British Governmenthas honored by carving into the floor of Westminster Abbey. | |
MY BUNKIE
and Other Ballads
By ERWIN CLARKSON GARRETT
Army and Navy Register:
“The poems show a keen appreciation of the romantic and picturesque side of the soldier’s life with touches of humor and pathos that make up the comedy and tragedy of the calling. Mr. Garrett’s verses are truly sympathetic and appeal to worthy sentiment. They are among the best of anything which has been written in any form concerning the Army and they deserve appreciation. If the Army has a poet who has shown himself by his verses capable of expressing in this form service traditions and military life, it must be this former soldier. Mr. Garrett has preserved the varying conditions of the soldier’s life and the soldier’s sentiment in verses that are really worth while.***”