Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/92

80 where they were invited and opened a gambling booth for the entertainment of the visitors.

Such entertainers were divided into two distinct classes, the red cash and the black cash fraternity. The latter made secret vows amid the sacrificial burnings of the incense hall, carried arms, and lived by burglaries. The red cash fraternity occupied themselves with slitting open cash bags or cutting off the last 200 cash on a string of cash. If any red cash brother got caught and was branded on the face he was at once degraded into the black cash brotherhood. These two classes exist to-day, the red cash people being gamblers and pickpockets by daylight while the black cash brethren live by burglary in the dark.

The settlers from other provinces naturally hated all ku-lu-tsŭ and called them "rats" because of their nocturnal habits and because they so readily disappeared at the approach of the enemy. In the south of the province any one with the look of an aborigine is still called a rat. But the curse has come home to roost, for in Hupei and Hunan all Ssŭch'uanese are now called by this term, whatever their extraction. In retaliation the Hupei people in Ssŭch'uan are contemptuously termed "Hupei bean-curd."

In spite of government and settlers the ku-lu-tzŭ have never been exterminated, and they continue to style themselves the Han Liu.

The terms "Han Liu" and ku-fei seem synonymous, the former being used by the brethren, the latter being applied to them by the officials. The former term implies their wish to preserve the ancient Han ideals and aspirations as against Mongol and Manchu influences. The other term, ku-fei, indicates that the officials regard them as malcontents and opponents of law and order.

For many years before the Hsien Fêng reign (1851-62) the "Yellow River was at peace," that is, was free from rebellion. Then the ku-fei rose in revolt under the leadership