Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/307

 COOLY 303 a few, who are identified with the planting interest and control the magistrates. A prin- cipal difficulty which the cooly system has labored under is the inferior quality of the immigrants in many instances. In the eager- ness of the planters to obtain coolies when the business commenced, they suffered themselves to be imposed upon by the parties employed in the collection of emigrants, who occasionally sent them the refuse of the cities instead of persons accustomed to agricultural labor. The former class turned beggars and vagabonds, and caused much annoyance and trouble. The small proportion of women among them, and the bad character in general of those imported, have led to immorality among the immigrants, while the sentiment of caste preventing them from intermarrying with the blacks, and the policy of the law fostering reindentures, have tended to keep them a distinct class in the community. A term of service in the colony, however, has been found to improve the coo- lies, who lose the cringing and slavish demeanor which characterizes them in India. In 1870 a commission was sent out from England to Guiana to investigate the system, from which it may be expected that further ameliorations will result. The Hindoos are nearly all em- ployed on the sugar plantations. They are not so strong as the negroes, who do much of the heavier work, but are averse to continuous labor, nor so quick and intelligent as the Chi- nese. Their first savings are usually invested in a cow, or in the case of the women hi silver ornaments, of which many accumulate a large amount. From the best attainable data, it appears that the average earnings of ordinary laborers (say three fourths of the whole num- ber) are about 28 cents for each day's work, the coolies generally working four or five days a week. Women earn from 16 to 32 cents a day, but do not work so many days a week as the men. Children from 10 to 15 years of age earn from 8 to 16 cents a day. It is estimated that during 1870 wages amounting to over $2,000,000 were paid to coolies, including Chi- nese. The amount of money carried out of the colony by coolies returning to India, up to the end of 1872, is stated at over $800,000. The number of immigrant depositors in the British Guiana savings bank, June 13, 1870, was 1,817, and their deposits amounted to $138,425 13. Besides Guiana, the principal localities to which Indian coolies have been taken are the islands of the Mauritius, which from its proximity to India takes the lead in the number import- ed, Trinidad, and Jamaica. The following table exhibits the number arriving in each colony from 1843 to 1872, the number that returned between those years, and the num- ber remaining at the respective dates, with their sex and condition : PLACE. Arrived. Returned. Remaining. Males. . Indentured. Uninden- tured. Mauritius 862,785 104,811 225,607 (Dec. 81 1868) 147,758 77,854 British Guiana Trinidad.. 80,599 44,697 8,482 4,542 46,628 (June, 30, 1869) 16,885 (Sept. 80, 1869) 88,614 18,009 87,066 9,568 9,557 6,822 Jamaica. 15,999 8,194 ...... All British West Indies 146,668 16851 Those remaining in Mauritius constituted more than two thirds of the whole population ; 122,449 were employed on sugar estates. Those remaining in Guiana (nearly one third of the population) and in Trinidad include Chinese. Some coolies have also been taken to the French island of Keunion (formerly Bourbon), which, together with Port Natal, between 1857 and 1866, received 18,363 immigrants from India. The second branch of cooly emi- gration, that from China, is mostly of a very different character. The first cargo of Chinese coolies was taken in a Portuguese ship from Macao in 1847 to Peru. They were induced to embark by the representation that they were going to Java. Of the 300 that left the port only 175 were landed, who were imme- diately placed upon a plantation in the interior. The experiment proving satisfactory to the planters, other cargoes were procured, and soon the Cuban planters also sought the same labor. But those first shipped not having re- turned at the appointed time, and rumors of the fraud that had been practised upon them having spread among the Chinese, it became impossible to obtain voluntary emigrants, and other means were resorted to. The traders or- 225 VOL. v. 20 ganized bands for the purpose of kidnapping coolies, and ships called lorchas, equipped as men-of-war and carrying the Portuguese flag, were sent up the bays and rivers, capturing whole cargoes. Under the influence of cupidity, parents sold their sons, banditti their prisoners, and fugitives from justice bargained themselves away. The traffic carried civil war into the province of Quangtung ; rival clans and fami- lies took up arms against each other and sold their prisoners to the traders ; while the Chi- nese mandarins and village elders not only connived at these practices, but even for a small fee aided the capture. The example of Macao was soon followed by other ports, and in 1853 Hong Kong, Swatow, Canton, Amoy, Whampoa, Camsingmoon, and smaller places were engaged in the traffic. To the enormity of their capture was added the barbarous treat- ment of the coolies on the passage and after arrival at the destination. Crowded to excess upon the ships and poorly fed, they died by hundreds on the voyage, while on the planta- tions they were overtasked, whipped, and prac- tically reduced to slavery. Mutinies both upon the plantations and on shipboard have been frequent, and great numbers have committed