Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 5, 1894.djvu/37

Rh is to receive; how that, when he lays a certain blanket down in the villages, everyone will put so much in it; how that shepherds will give him certain dues, the first of the flock, on certain festivals; and even the betel-nut which his daughter chews is provided for by endowment of certain villages.

Our administration put aside these arrangements; and the Kullens, with their Maravan brethren, take what they can and how they can. They think it their right to do so. Their hand is against all outside their own people. No one is free from blackmail, no matter how high his position, European or native. It is levied in this way: every large householder must employ a Kullen, generally as an outdoor servant, and every small householder must pay a certain sum month by month.

Those who accept this unwritten agreement are safe, practically, from theft. Those who do not will suffer heavily. A regimental guard is no protection whatever from the Kullen thief; nor is attempt at personal defence. A gentleman tried this not long ago; placed a revolver under his pillow, and let it be known that he would shoot anyone who entered his room. The Kullens very soon took away the revolver, and when he awoke all his furniture was out in the garden. A man who can steal the sheet from under you, no matter how secure you make yourself, is a difficult customer to deal with.

For cattle driven to market, in carts or what not, tied up in a village for the night, regular kâval or watch dues must be paid, or the animals will certainly be lost. The most beautiful production of our administration in India is the Brahmin High Court pleader. The medium suits him beautifully, and he thrives and absorbs oceans of rupees. He has glided easily through every conceivable examination in law; but he does not evade the Kullen, who bleeds him freely. Any request refused is at once followed by loss of something from his house. It is difficult to believe, but it is nevertheless true, that in some parts of Madura a