Goa and the Blue Mountains; or, Six months of sick leave

by Sir Richard Francis Burton

Servitude in Malabar offered few of the revolting, degrading, and horrible features which characterized it in the ancient, mediæval, and modern annals of the Western World. The proprietor never had the power of life or death over a slave without the sanction of the feudal chief, or more generally of the sovereign; he could inflict corporeal punishment upon him, but old established custom limited the extent as effectually as law would. Moreover, in this part of the globe serfs were born and bred in subserviency, they had no cherished memories of rights and comforts once enjoyed,—no spirit of independence conscious of a title to higher privileges and indignant at unjust seclusion from them. In their case slavery did not begin with the horrors of violent separation from country and home, the cruelties of a ship-imprisonment, forcible introduction to new habits and customs, food and dress, languages and connections. They were not degraded to the level of beasts, nor were they subjected to treatment of the worst description by strange masters, who neither understood their natures, nor sympathized with their feelings.

A proprietor in Malabar could always sell[112] his serfs with or without the soil, but to remove them far from their homes would have been considered a cruel and unwarrantable measure sufficient to cause and almost justify desertion. Only in some castes the wives of slaves might be sold to another master, and, generally speaking, parents were not separated from their children.[113] They might, however, be let out in simple rent, or mortgaged under certain deeds. The proprietors were bound to feed their slaves throughout the year. The allowance on work days was double the proportion issued at other times, but it was never less than two pounds of rice to a male, and about three quarters of that quantity to a female. In Malabar there have been instances of a Chermun’s holding land in lease, and being responsible to government for paying its taxes. In Canara it was by no means uncommon for slaves to have slips of rice-fields, and small pieces of land given to them by their masters for growing fruit and vegetables. When a slave possessing any property died, his owner was not entitled to it, except in the cases when no lawful heir could be found. In some places on the coast,[114] and near large towns, the serfs were permitted, when not labouring for their proprietor, to employ themselves in carrying grass, firewood, and other articles to market. On great occasions they expected presents of clothes, oil, grain, and small sums of money whenever the owner was wealthy enough to distribute such largesse. And at harvest time they were entitled to a certain portion of the produce, as a compensation for watching the crop.

There are several castes of serfs who do not intermarry or eat with each other. The Poliur is considered the most industrious, docile, and trustworthy. Proprietors complained loudly of the pilfering propensities displayed by the others. With the exception of the Parayen and Kunnakun tribes, they abstain from slaying the cow, and using beef as an article of food. All are considered impure, though not equally so. For instance, slaves of the Polyan, Waloovan, and Parayen races must stand at a distance of seventy-two paces from the Brahman and Nair: the Kunnakuns may approach within sixty-four, and other servile castes within forty-eight paces of the priestly and military orders.

CHAPTER XIII.
THE MOSLEM AND OTHER NATIVES OF MALABAR.

We are informed by the Moslem historians that their faith spread wide and took deep root in the southern parts of Western India, principally in consequence of the extensive immigration of Arabs. It may be observed that the same cause which provided the Hindoos with serfs, supplied the stranger with proselytes: a Rajah would often, when in want of money, dispose of his outcastes to the Faithful, who, in such cases, seldom failed to make converts of their purchasers.

The Moplahs, or Mapillahs,[115]—the Moslem inhabitants of Malabar—are a mixed breed, sprung from the promiscuous intercourse that took place between the first Arab settlers and the women of the country. Even to the present day they display in mind and body no small traces of their mongrel origin. They are a light coloured and good looking[116] race of men, with the high features, the proud expression, and the wiry forms of the descendants of Ishmael: their delicate hands and feet, and their long bushy beards,[117] show that not a little Hindoo blood flows in their veins. They shave the hair, trim the mostachios according to the Sunnat,[118] and, instead of a turban, wear a small silk or cloth cap of peculiar shape upon their heads. The chest and shoulders are left exposed, and a white or dyed piece of linen, resembling in cut and colour the “lung” or bathing cloth of Central Asia, is tied round the loins. The garment, if we may so call it, worn by the males, does not reach below the calves of the legs, whereas the fair sex prolongs it to the ankles. Unlike the Hindoo inhabitants of Malabar, the upper portion of the female figure is modestly concealed by a shift buttoned round the neck, with large sleeves, and the opening in front: according to the custom of the Faithful a veil is always thrown over the head.

The only peculiarity in the Moplah lady’s costume is the horrible ornamenting of the ear. At an early age the lobe is pierced, and a bit of lead, or a piece of Shola wood[119] is inserted in order to enlarge the orifice. After a time the lobe becomes about the size of a crown piece, and a circle of gold, silver, or palm-leaf, dyed red, white, or yellow, is inserted into it—the distended skin of the lobe containing and surrounding the ring. There is something peculiarly revolting to a stranger’s eye in the appearance of the two long strips of flesh instead of ears, which hang down on each side of the head in old age, when ornaments are no longer worn.

The countenance of the Moplah, especially when it assumes the expression with which he usually regards infidels and heretics, is strongly indicative of his ferocious and fanatic disposition. His deep undying hatred for the Kafir[120] is nurtured and strengthened by the priests and religious instructors. Like the hierarchy of the Moslem world in general, they have only to hold out a promise of Paradise to their disciples as a reward, and the most flagrant crimes will be committed. In Malabar they lie under the suspicion of having often suggested and countenanced many a frightful deed of violence. The Moplah is an obstinate ruffian. Cases are quoted of a culprit spitting in the face of a judge when the warrant of execution was being read out to him. Sometimes half a dozen desperadoes will arm themselves, seize upon a substantial house, and send a message of defiance to the collector of the district. Their favourite weapon on such occasions is the long knife that usually hangs from the waist: when entering battle they generally carry two, one in the hand, and the other between the teeth. They invariably prepare themselves for combat by a powerful dose of hemp or opium, fight to the last with frenzied obstinacy, despise the most dreadful wounds, and continue to exert themselves when a European would be quite disabled—a peculiarity which they probably inherit from their Arab[121] ancestors. Like the Malay when he runs a-muck, these men never think of asking for, or giving quarter, they make up their minds to become martyrs, and only try to attain high rank in that glorious body by slaying as many infidels as they can. At times they have been eminently successful. On one occasion we heard of a rencontre in which about a dozen desperate robbers, dropping from the window of a house into the centre of a square, inopportunely formed by a company of seapoys, used their knives with such effect upon the helpless red-coats’ backs, that they ran away with all possible precipitation. The result of a few such accidents is, that the native soldier cannot always be trusted to act against them, for, with the usual Hindoo superstition and love of the marvellous, he considers their bravery something preternatural, and connected with certain fiendish influences.

In former days, the Moplas played a conspicuous part among the pirates who infested the Malabar coast. Marco Polo mentions that there issued annually “a body of upwards of one hundred vessels,[122] who captured other ships and plundered the merchants.” He alludes to their forming what they called a ladder on the sea, by stationing themselves in squadrons of twenty, about five miles from each other, so as to command as great an extent of water as possible. But in the old Venetian’s day, the corsairs appear to have been by no means so sanguinary as they afterwards became. He expressly states, that when the pirates took a ship, they did no injury to the crew, but merely said to them, “Go and collect another cargo, that we may have a chance of getting it too.” In later times, Tavernier describes them as blood-thirsty in the extreme. “The Malavares are violent Mahometans and very cruel to the Christians.[123] I saw a barefoot Carmelite friar, who had been taken by the pirates, and so tortured, in order to obtain his ransom,[124] that his right arm and one leg were shorter by one half than the other.” He alludes to their audacity in attacking large armed vessels with squadrons composed of ten or fifteen barques, each carrying from two hundred to two hundred and fifty men, and describes their practice of boarding suddenly and setting fire to the ship with pots of artificial fire. The style of defence usually adopted was to prepare for them by closing the scuttles, and swamping the deck with water, to hinder the fire-pots from doing execution.