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PR4857.D941914
A handbook to the poetry of Rudyard Kipl
3 1924 013 494 228
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A HANDBOOK TO
THE POETRY OF
RUDYARD KIPLING
BY
RALPH DURAND
GARDEN CITY NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1914
EV.
ni4
"73
Copyright, I gi 4, by
DOUBLEDAY, PaGE & COMPANY
All rights reserved, including that of
translation into foreign languages,
including the Scandinavian
DEDICATION
TO
HENRY JOHN STALLEY ('UNCLE JOHN')
FOR MANY YEARS ASSISTANT MASTER OF THE RELIGIOUS,
ROYAL AND ANCIENT FOUNDATION OF CHRIST's HOSPITAL
It used to be the custom in the East when a man had com-
mitted a capital offence to execute not only the criminal but
also the man who had been entrusted with the criminal's edu-
cation. We in the West are not so logical. We do not punish
the tutor for the pupil's misdeeds, and, on the other hand, those
of us who escape the gallows are apt to forget to what extent
our escape is due to the men who educated us, I wondex
how many of the thousands of 'Old Blues' who have passed
through your class-room realise how great is the debt they owe
you. Most of us knew you first as the dread Pluto of the De-
tention School. Without the care that in that capacity you
lavished on us we should probably all be worse men than we
are. That point of view, however, did not occur to us at the
time, and it was not until in fear and dread we entered your
class-room that we began to learn to love you. When we first
came to you, not as defaulters but as pupils, we believed that
the science of Geography consisted of nothing more than an
endless string of meaningless and unpronounceable names.
You taught us that the world was a very wonderful and fasci-
nating place, and made us yearn for the time when we should be
able to go forth and have a look at it for ourselves. We came
DEDICATION
to you holding the belief that the science of History was nothing
more than 'William-the-Conquerer-ten-sixty-six-William-the-
Second-ten-eighty-seven,' multiplied by dreariness to an in-
definite degree. Under the magic of your wand we saw Norman
knight and Saxon footman fight to the death on Senlac Hill;
we heard the thunder of Spanish guns echo along the Sus-
sex shore; we mingled with the crowd in Whitehall, and, with a
clearer focus than our forefathers could have used, saw how
much there was of good and how much of base both in the king
who died there and in the men who killed him. You taught us
directly the measure of the privileges and responsibilities be-
queathed to us by those who lived and fought and died for
England. Indirectly you taught us that knowledge has a
value more precious than its power to win marks in school and
money in after life. Soon after I began work on this book, I
re-read the lines, addressed by Rudyard Kipling to one of his
former masters:
'Let us now praise famous men' —
Men of little showing —
For their work continueth.
And their work continueth,
Broad and deep continueth.
Greater than their knowing !
The words immediately called you to my mind. For that
reason I dedicate this book to you, not in payment of the debt
I owe you — I have not wealth enough for that — but in ac-
knowledgment of it.
RALPH DURAND.
VI
INTRODUCTION
This book is offered to the public in the hope that it
will prove of service to those to whom Mr. Rudyard
Kipling's poems are a constant source of delight.
Rudyard Kipling has made
Extended observation of the ways and works of man,
From the Four-mile Radius roughly to the plains of
Hindustan,
with excursions into prehistoric times, ships' engine-
rooms, Freemasonry, and other subjects. His poems
consequently abound in precise technicalities, archaic
words, and slang expressions enough to justify a
glossary of the terms that he uses. An engineer does
not need to refer to a dictionary for a definition of the
word slip; a soldier perhaps understands what exactly
are slingers; a Biblical student may know all that
is now guessed as to the whereabouts of Javan, and
a classical scholar needs no information as to the
difference between a thranite and a thalamite. But
the general reader who wishes to understand these
terms must search for them in dictionaries and other
works of reference, and may possibly find his search
fruitless. When doubt arose as to whether expressions
were too well known to need explanation, it was de-
vil
INTRODUCTION
cided, for the benefit of the foreign reader, to err on
the side of giving too much rather than too Httle infor-
mation.
A mere glossary of the obscure expressions which
he uses would, however, leave the student of Rudyard
Kipling's poems but half satisfied. For this reason
no apology is needed for embodying in this book short
biographical notices, such as those on ' Eddi of Man-
hood End,' on ' Gholam Hyder, the Red Chief,' and
on * her that fell at Simon's Town in service on our
foes,' or for including references to the rite of johar,
the myth concerning 'Upsaras,' or the original pro-
pounder of the question 'Is not Calno like Carchem-
ish ? ' And this book jvould certainly be incomplete
without an explanation of the personal interest that
attaches to 'The Rhyme of the Three Captains.'
My notes follow the order of the poems as they
appear in the various volumes in which they have
been collected, from Departmental Ditties to Songs
from Books. The last pages are devoted to a few
poems that appeared originally in Mr. Kipling's prose
works but have not yet been collected into volume
form. An alphabetical list of titles and a general inr
dex will be found at the end of the volume.
RALPH DURAND.
VUI
TITLES OF POEMS ANNOTATED
FROM 'DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES AND
OTHER VERSES'
PAGE
ARMY HEADQUARTERS 3
A LEGEND OF THE FOREIGN OFFICE . . 3
PUBLIC WASTE 4
WHAT HAPPENED 5
THE MAN WHO COULD WRITE .... 8
MUNICIPAL 8
A CODE OF MORALS 9
THE LAST DEPARTMENT 9
TO THE UNKNOWN GODDESS .... ID
THE RUPAIYAT OF OMAR KAL'vIN . . . II
DIVIDED DESTINIES 12
THE MASQUE OF PLENTY 12
THE SONG OF THE WOMEN .... I4
THE BALLAD OF FISHEr's BOARDING-HOUSE . 16
AS THE BELL CLINKS I7
THE GRAVE OF THE HUNDRED HEAD . . 1 7
WHAT THE PEOPLE SAID 1 8
ONE VICEROY RESIGNS I9
A TALE OF TWO CITIES 22
GIFFEn's DEBT 23
ix
TITLES OF POEMS ANNOTATED
FAGS
IN SPRING TIME 24
rrHE GALLEY SLAVE 24
FROM 'BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS AND
OTHER VERSES'
BEYOND THE PATH OF THE OUTMOST SUN . , 26
TO T. A. (THOMAS ATKINS) .... 2$
VDANNY DEEVER 2/
TOMMY 28
vfuzzy-wuzzy' 29
screw-guns 31
CELLS 32
GUNGA DIN 34
(OONTS 35
aooT 37
'SNARLEYOW' 38
THE WIDOW AT WINDSOR 40
BELTS 40
.THE YOUNG BRITISH SOLDIER .... 4I
4lANDALAY
troopin'
THE widow's PARTY
42
43
43
FORD O KABUL RIVER 44
GENTLEMEN-RANKERS 44
ROUTE MARCHIn' 45
ISHILLIn' a DAY 47
THE BALLAD OF EAST AND WEST ... 49
THE LAST SUTTEE ...... C2
X
TITLES OF POEMS ANNOTATED
rACS
THE BALLAD OF THE KINg's MERCY . . S3
THE BALLAD OF THE KINg's JEST ... 57
WITH SCINDIA TO DELHI 59
THE DOVE OF DACCA 64
THE BALLAD OF BOH DA THONE ... 65
THE LAMENT OF THE BORDER CATTLE THIEF 68
THE RHYME OF THE THREE CAPTAINS . . 69
THE BALLAD OF THE 'CLAMPHERDOWN' . 75
THE BALLAD OF THE 'boLIVAR' ... 76 "^
THE SACRIFICE OF ER-HEB .... 79
THE GIFT OF THE SEA 80
EVARRA AND HIS GODS 8 1
THE CONUNDRUM OF THE WORKSHOPS . . 8 1
THE LEGENDS OF EVIL 82
THE ENGLISH FLAG ...... 82
'cleared' 84
an imperial rescript 86
TOMLINSON ./ 87
THE LONG TRAIL 88
FROM 'THE SEVEN SEAS'
TO THE CITY OF BOMBAY
. . . 93
THE SONG OF THE ENGLISH
. • . 93
The Coastwise Lights .
93
The Song of the Dead .
94
The Deep-Sea Cables .
96
The Song of the Sons .
97
The Song of the Cities y
England's Answer . / . . .
97
99
XI
TITLES OF POEMS ANNOTATED
PAGE
V
J
THE FIRST CHANTEY ./ 99
THE LAST CHANTEY ^ lOI
THE MERCHANTMEN I03
m' Andrew's hymn '^ io8
T)A^ MIRACLES II9
HE NATIVE-BORN ^ II9
THE KING 122
THE RHYME OF THE THREE SEALERS . . I24
THE DERELICT . I34
THE SONG OF THE BANJO I3S
THE LINER SHe's A LADY I38
MULHOLLANd's CONTRACT I39
ANCHOR SONG I40
THE LOST LEGION I46
THE SEA-WIFE . / I52
HYMN BEFORE ACTION I52
TO THE TRUE ROMANCE , - . . . . 152
THE FLOWERS g^^^
THE LAST RHYME OF TRUE THOMAS . . I55
IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE IJ§-
THE STORY OF UNG ^"162
THE THREE-DECKER 164
/ THE AMERICAN . v l6y
V^E 'mary gloster' 167
SESTINA OF THE TRAMP-ROYAL. . . . 171
WHEN 'OMER SMOTE 'iS BLOOMIN' LYRE . I7I
'back to the army again' .... lJ3i^
'birds of prey' MARCH I76
xii
/:
TITLES OF POEMS ANNOTATED
PAGS
i
'soldier and sailor too' . . . . 178
SAPPERS 180
that day i82
'the men that fought at minden' . . 182
cholera camp 184
the mother-lodge 1 85
'follow ME 'oME' 188
THE sergeant's WEDDIn' 189
THE JACKET I89
THE 'eATHEN 191
THE SHUT-EYE sentry I94
FROM 'THE FIVE NATIONS'
Ibefore a midnight breaks in storm . 196
<THE sea and the HILLS I96
the bell-buoy i98
cruisers . -^ 199
destroyers 200
white horses 202
the second voyage 203
the dykes 204
the song of diego valdez .... 205
the broken men 206
the feet of the young men ^-^ . . . 207
the truce of the bear .... 208
the old men 209
the explorer , 209
xiii
TITLES OF POEMS ANNOTATED
rAGB
THE BURIAL 313
GENERAL JOUBERT 215
THE PALACE 215
SUSSEX 2l6
SONG OF THE WISE CHILDREN .... 221
BUDDHA AT KAMAKURA 222
THE WHITE man's BURDEN .... 229
PHARAOH AND THE SERGEANT .... 23O
OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS . . . . 23 1
ET DONA FERENTES 232
kitchener's SCHOOL 233
THE YOUNG QUEEN 235
RIMMON 236
THE OLD ISSUE 237
BRIDGE-GUARD IN THE KARROO . . . ^39^
THE LESSON 24O
/THE FILES 241
THE REFORMERS 244 ^'
DIRGE OF DEAD SISTERS 244
THE ISLANDERS 24S
THE PEACE OF DIVES 248
THE SETTLER 25O
CHANT PAGAN 25I
M. 1 253
COLUMNS 257
THE PARTING OF THE COLUMNS . . . 259
TWO KOPJES 260
BOOTS 262
xiv
TITLES OF POEMS ANNOTATED
PAGB
THE MARRIED MAN 262
LICHTENBERG 263
STELLENBOSH 264
HALF-BALLAD OF WATERVAL .... 265
PIET 266
'wilful-missing' 270
lUBIQUE 270
'recessional 272
FROM 'SONGS FROM BOOKS'
PUCK S SONG 274
A THREE-PART SONG 277
THE RUN OF THE DOWNS 277
BROOKLAND ROAD 278
SIR Richard's song 279
A TREE SONG 279
A CHARM 280
CHAPTER HEADINGS : PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
Heading to In the House of Suddhoo —
'A stone's throw out on either hand ' . . . 281
Heading to Cupid's Arrows —
' Pit WHERE THE BUFFALO COOLED HIS hide' . . 28 1
iCOLD IRON 282
A SONG OF KABIR 282
*MY NEW-CUT ashlar' 284
EDDl's SERVICE 284
SHIV AND THE GRASSHOPPER .... 284
THE fairies' SIEGE 285
A SONG TO MITHRAS 285
XV
TITLES OF POEMS ANNOTATED
THE NEW KNIGHTHOOD
OUTSONG IN THE JUNGLE
A ST. HELENA LULLABY
CHIL's SONG
THE CAPTIVE
HADRAMAUTI .
CHAPTER HEADINGS : THE NAULAHKA
' Beat off in our last fight were we? '
' We be Gods of the East '
CHAPTER HEADINGS : THE LIGHT THAT FAILED
' The lark will make her hymn to God '
'Yet at the last, ere our spearmen had found him '
GALLIO'S SONG
THE BEES AND THE FLIES
ROAD-SONG OF THE BANDAR-LOG
A BRITISH ROMAN SONG
A PICT SONG
RIMINI ....
'poor HONEST MEN' .
PROPHETS AT HOME .
JUBAL AND TUBAL-CAIN
THE VOORTREKKER
A SCHOOL SONG .
'our FATHERS OF OLd'
CHAPTER HEADINGS : BEAST AND MAN IN INDIA
'Dark children of the mere and marsh'
SONG OF THE FIFTH RIVER
PARADE SONG OF THE CAMP ANIMALS
THE TWO-SIDED MAN
LUKANNON
xvl
TITLES OF POEMS ANNOTATED
AN ASTROLOGERS SONG 3 12
THE BEE boy's SONG 3 12
MERROW DOWN 313
OLD MOTHER LAIDINWOOL 316
CHAPTER headings: JUST-SO STORIES
'When the cabin port-holes are dark and green' . .318
'This is the mouth-filling song' 318
'China-going P. and O.'s' 319
'There was never a queen like Balkis' .... 321
THE queen's men 322
GOW'S WATCH 322
SONG OF THE RED WAR BOAT .... 323
A RIPPLE SONG 324
BUTTERFLIES 325
THE NURSING SISTER 325
THE ONLY SON 325
MOWGLl's SONG AGAINST PEOPLE . . . 326
CHAPTER headings: THE JUNGLE BOOKS
'At the hole where he went in' 327
THE EGG-SHELL 328
THE king's task 328
Poseidon's law 332
a truthful song 334
A smuggler's SONG 335
KING HENRY VII. AND THE SHIPWRIGHTS . 336
THE WET LITANY 337
THE BALLAD OF MINEPIT SHAW . . -338
HERIOT's FORD 339
frankie's trade 340
xvii
TITLES OF POEMS ANNOTATED
THORKILD S SONG
ANGUTIVAUN TAINA
THE SONG OF THE MEN's SIDE
darzee's CHAUNT
THE PRAYER ....
341
344
345
FROM 'A SCHOOL HISTORY OF ENGLAND '
THE ROMAN CENTURION 346
THE PIRATES IN ENGLAND .... 347
THE SAXON FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLAND . . 347
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR's WORK . . . 348
norman and saxon 348
the reeds of runnymede .... 349
with drake in the tropics . , . -350
before edgehill fight 351
the dutch in the medway .... 352
'brown bess' 352
after the war 352
the bells and the queen .... 353
the secret of the machines .... 353
FROM OTHER POEMS
CHAPTER heading: PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
Heading to Consequences —
'ROSICRUCIAN subtleties'
CHAPTER HEADING : THE NAULAHKA
'In the state of Kot^Kumharsen'
CHAPTER heading: BEAST AND MAN IN INDIA
xviii
354
3SS
TITLES OF POEMS ANNOTATED
Heading to The Seven Nights of Creation — face
'O Hassan! Saving Allah, there is none' . . . 356
CHAPTER heading: KIM
'Yea, voice of every soul that clung' 357
THE RUNNERS {Traffics and DiscoveHes) . . 358
THE RUNES ON WELANd's SWORD (Puck OJ
Book's Hill) 358
PHILADELPHIA {Rewards and Fairies) . . 361
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF POEMS ANNOTATED 363
GENERAL INDEX ... 367
XIX
A HANDBOOK TO THE POETRY
OF RUDYARD KIPLING
Departmental Ditties and Other Verses
ARMY HEADQUARTERS
Stanza 2. He clubbed his wretched company a
dozen times a day. I. e. he drilled his company so
badly that it became entangled and could not be put
straight by any recognised word of command. To
restore order the men would have to ' fall out ' or
scatter and re-form again.
Stanza 3. Simla is a cool, healthy, and beautiful
town, built on a spur of the lower Himalayas, between
6,000 and 8,000 feet above sea-level. During the
summer months it is the Viceroy's headquarters and
the seat of the Supreme Government of India as well
as of the Punjab Government. It is, naturally, the
centre of Indian society during the summer.
A LEGEND OF THE FOREIGN OFFICE
The Native States in India are governed by their
respective princes, each of whom has the help and
advice of a political officer appointed by the supreme
Indian Government. Negotiations between an In-
dian State and the Supreme Government are con-
ducted through the Indian Foreign Office. The
native princes are allowed to manage the internal
3
DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES
affairs of their states so long as they do so without in-
justice or oppression. The progress that some states
have made under enhghtened rajahs is evident from
the very vivid accounts which Rudyard Kipling has
given in 'Letters of Marque' {From Sea to Sea) of the
cities of Jeypore, Udaipur, Chitor, Jodhpur, and
Boondi in Rajputana. The Naulahka, by Rudyard
Kipling and Wolcott Balestier, also depicts life in a
Native State.
Stanza i. Lusted for a C. S. I. — so began to sani-
tate. Many Indian princes do not wholly understand
or approve the Supreme Government's love for sani-
tation, but to humour it on this point is recognised
as advisable by those who wish to stand well with the
Viceroy. There is an old story to the effect that a
native prince, knowing that the Viceroy intended to
inspect some interesting old carvings in his dominions,
prepared for his visit by having the carvings white-
washed. The Order C. S. I. (Companion of the
Star of India) is an honour conferred, on such occa-
sions as the King's birthday, on native princes and
other notables who deserve recognition.
Stanza 5. Nothing more than C. I. E. The Order
Companion of the Indian Empire is lower and con-
sequently less valued than the C. S. I.
PUBLIC WASTE
The Little Tin Gods on the Mountain Side. A dis-
respectful reference to the Viceroy of India and his
4
AND OTHER VERSES
Executive Council, who during the summer months
have their headquarters in the hills at Simla.
Stanza i. Chatham. A garrison town at which
officers of the Royal Engineers attend the School of
Military Engineering.
Stanza 3. Vauban, a marshal of France of the
seventeenth century, was a celebrated military en-
gineer. His work had a profound influence on the
arts of fortification and siegecraft.
The 'College.' The Staff College at Camberley, at
which officers who wish to qualify for staff appoint-
ments are trained.
Stanza 6. Exempt from the Law of the Fifty and
Five. Exempt from the regulation which requires a
man to retire at the age of fifty-five.
Stanza 7. Four thousand a month. Four thousand
rupees, equivalent to about £260.
WHAT HAPPENED
Hurree Chunder Mookerjee in this poem typifies
the Bengali 'babu,' the semi-literate representative of
a race of which Macaulay wrote, 'There never, per-
haps, existed a people so thoroughly fitted by nature
and by habit for a foreign yoke.' Prior to British
rule in India the Bengalis were the constant prey of
bolder and hardier races, and it is probable that, as
this poem forecasts, their lot would not be a happy
one if British protection were withdrawn from them.
Mentally the Bengalis are exceedingly acute, and
S
DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES
they succeed admirably in any profession where me-
chanical intelligence is needed but bravery and initia-
tive are not. No sweeping condemnation of the
Bengalis would, however, be just. Though they have
an excessive fear of physical pain they have none of
death. Either in an aeroplane or on the scaffold a
Bengali will be calm and collected. Rudyard Kipling
gives the more commendable side of the Bengali
character in Kim. In that book the Babu, also called
Hurree Chunder Mookerjee, admits that he is * a very
fearful man' and turns pale at the sound of the click
of a rifle-breech, yet he shows a degree of moral cour-
age that astonishes both the Irish lad and the reckless
Afghan, Mahbub Ali.
Each of the other characters in this poem represents
one of the warlike races of India. Yar Mahommed
Yusufzai represents the Pathans of the N. W. Frontier
Province, such as are depicted in ' Wee Willie Winkie,'
'The Drums of the Fore and Aft,' 'The Head of the
District' {Life's Handicap), 'The Lost Legion' {Many
Inventions), and other stories. Chimbu Singh repre-
sents the Rajpoots. The Bhils are an aboriginal
tribe formerly much given to plundering. They ap-
pear in 'The Tomb of his Ancestors' {The Day's Work).
The Marris are a brave and lawless tribe of Baluchis-
tan. The Sikhs provide some of the best soldiers in
the Indian army, but, unlike the Marris, they are
notable for their loyalty to the British Empire. The
tale, 'A Sahib's War' {Traffics and Discoveries), is told
6
AND OTHER VERSES
by a native officer in a Sikh regiment. The Jats of
the Punjab, who are agricuhurists, also make excel-
lent soldiers. The Wahabis are a fanatical Moham-
medan sect who preach the holiness of war against
unbelievers. Boh Hla-oo represents the Burmese
dacoits, who, when safe opportunity offers, make up
in bloodthirstiness what they lack in actual courage.
Their methods of warfare are described in 'A Con-
ference of the Powers' {Many Inventions), 'The Tak-
ing of Lungtungpen' (Plain Tales from the Hills),
'The Ballad of Boh daThone' (Barrack-Room Ballads),
and 'The Grave of the Hundred Head' (Departmental
Ditties).
Stanza 7. The Grand Trunk Road leads right
across northern India from Calcutta to Peshawur (see
note, 'Route Marchin',' stanza i, p. 45).
Stanza 9. The quoit is the ancient weapon of the
Sikhs. It is sharp on the outside edge, and when
thrown will cut through a plantain stalk at a distance
of 80 yards.
Stanza 11. Pubbi is a village near Peshawur on
the N. W. Frontier border.
Stanza 12. Siva's sacred bull. Hindoos regard
the bull as sacred because Siva, the third god of the
Hindoo Trinity, rode on one. The streets of every
Indian town are infested with sacred bulls, who feed at
will on the grain, etc., exposed for sale in the bazaars.
The Indian Congress men. (See note, 'One Viceroy
resigns,' line 128, p. 21.)
7
DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES
THE MAN WHO COULD WRITE
Stanza 2. Wicked wit of C-lv-n, irony of L 1.
Sir Auckland Colvin was Financial Member of the
Viceroy's Council, 1883-1887. Sir Alfred Comyn
Lyall was Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, 1882-
1887.
Stanza 7. Posed as young Ithuriel, resolute and
grim. Ithuriel is an angel, the touch of whose spear
exposes deceit. When Satan contrived to get into
Paradise, Gabriel sent Ithuriel to find where he
had hidden himself. Satan was disguised, but the
touch of Ithuriel's spear compelled him to reveal
himself.
MUNICIPAL
Stanza 2. That Commissariat elephant had sud-
denly gone musth. Musth is a state of excitement to
which elephants are periodically liable. Their keepers
understand and provide for it. Mere bad temper is
quite different. In 'My Lord the Elephant' {Many
Inventions) a mahout says that when an elephant is
angry he will kill any one except his keeper, but when
he is musth he will kill his keeper first. In the same
story an elephant loses his temper, creates a panic,
and chases 'a gunner orf'cer in full rig' mentals down
the road, hell-for-leather, wid his mouth open ' till the
officer 'dived like a rabbut into a dhrain by the side aV
the road.'
8
AND OTHER VERSES
A CODE OF MORALS
Stanza i. Heliograph. The heliograph is an in-
strument used to signal messages over distances too
great to be covered by signalling with flags. Sunlight
is caught on a mirror and flashed to those who wait to
receive the message. The message, which is sent in
the Morse code, is spelt out in a series of long and
short flashes, long flashes to represent 'dashes' and
short to represent 'dots.' Thus a long flash followed
by two short ones — dash, dot, dot (see stanza 5) —
spells D; a short flash — dot — spells E; a short fol-
lowed by a long flash— dot, dash — is A ; and dot, dash,
dot, is R. One operator wishing to call up and get
into conversation with another will make the signal
which means 'are you there' again and again until
he sees the flash of a reply. Only those almost di-
rectly in the line of the flash can see it.
THE LAST DEPARTMENT
Stanza 3. When idleness of all Eternity
Becomes our furlough, and the marigold
Our thriftless, bullion-minting Treasury.
In niost parts of India it is practically impossible to
grow turf. Graves are, therefore, often planted with
marigolds.
Stanza 6. Mallie. Gardener.
Stanza 7. Sheristadar. Clerk of the court, who
reads depositions, etc,
9
DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES
TO THE UNKNOWN GODDESS
Stanza 4. Will you stay in the plains till Septem-
ber. Most English women, and all men who can get
away, leave the Indian plains in the summer and go
to Simla or some other cool hill station. September
is the month in which the agony of the long summer
culminates. In the poem, 'Pagett, M. P.,' the globe-
trotter who regarded the heat of India as a solar myth
promises to stay till September to prove his conten-
tion. In July, however, he could stand no more of it
and fled. A woman who would voluntarily stay in
the plains throughout the summer would be com-
mendably faithful, though perhaps foolish.
Thermantidote, an enclosed paddle-wheel, actuated
by hand, for driving air through screens of wet scented ,
grass (kus-kus) with the idea of lowering the tem-
perature of rooms in hot weather. The throb of the
paddles and the drip of the water is a characteristic!
hot-weather sound.
Stanza 5. ' Thirteen-tzvo' — a polo pony 13 hands
2 inches in height. The standard size is now I4"2.
Stanza 6. The Delight of Wild Asses. Cf. Jere-
miah ii. 24: 'A wild ass used to the wilderness, that
snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure.'
Stanza 8.
As of old on Mars Hill when they raisedi
To the God that they knezo not an altar.
Cf. Acts xvii. 22, 23: 'Then Paul stood in the midst
10
AND OTHER VERSES
f Mars hill, and said, Ye men of Athens ... as
passed by ... I found an altar with this in-
cription, "To the unknown God.'"
THE RUPAIYAT OF OMAR KAL'VIN
This poem is a parody of Fitzgerald's now famous
ranslation of 'The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.'
L 'Rubaiyat' is a poem, and a 'rupiya' is a ru-
ee, the standard coin in India. Sir Auckland
]olvin (Omar Kal'vin), when Financial Member
f the Viceroy's Council, imposed an Income Tax,
he burden of which fell almost entirely on Anglo-
adians.
Stanza i. With begging Dish. Religious mendi-
ants in India carry bowls in which they receive alms,
sually in the shape of food, from the charitable,
i^hen Kim accompanied the Teshoo Lama on his
ilgrimage it was his duty to beg with the Lama's
owl.
Stanza 2. Salt a Lever that I dare not use. The
reat majority of the population in India consists of
griculturists, who subsist almost entirely on what
ley themselves grow, and who use currency very
ttle. It is therefore a difficult problem to find a
leans of taxing these. Salt, therefore, has been
ade a government monopoly, and is sold for very
uch more than it costs to produce and distribute.
raise the price still further, therefore, would cause
scontent.
II
DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES
DIVIDED DESTINIES
Stanza 2. Nor am I plagued with little cards for
little drinks at Mess. It is the custom at regimental
messes and at most clubs in the East for a man to pay
for refreshments by signing a card or 'chit' for the
amount due, and paying cash to redeem his chits at
the end of the month.
Stanza 3. Peliti's. A restaurant, and a general
afternoon rendezvous of Simla society.
THE MASQUE OF PLENTY
CHORUS OF THE CRYSTALLISED FACTS
Strachey. Sir John Strachey entered the Bengal
Civil Service in 1842. Among other offices he was
member of Legislative Council, member of the Gov-
ernor-General's Council, acting Viceroy and Finan-
cial Minister. His reform of the salt-tax resulted
in increased revenue and cheaper salt. He in-
stituted a scheme of government insurance against
famine.
Muir. Sir William Muir entered the Bengal Civil
Service in 1837. He held the offices of Foreign
Secretary to the Indian Government, Lieutenant-
Governor of the North- West Provinces, and Financial
Member of the Council.
Lytton. Lord Lytton became Governor-General
of India in 1875. His title was changed to that of
12
AND OTHER VERSES
Viceroy in 1877, when Queen Victoria assumed the
title of Empress of India. During his Viceroyalty the
Afghan War (i 879-1 880) was fought. A serious fam-
ine in 1 876-1 878 caused the appointment of a Famine
Commission, which recommended increased irrigation,
development of communications, the reform of the
salt-tax, and famine insurance.
Ripon. Lord Ripon succeeded Lord Lytton as
Viceroy of India in 1880. He reversed his prede-
sessor's Afghan policy, extended the rights of the
natives and curtailed those of the Europeans in India,
a policy which made him very popular with the former
and unpopular with the latter.
Temple. Sir Richard Temple in 1868 became a
member of the Supreme Government in India, first
as Foreign Secretary and then as Finance Minister.
He was made Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal in 1874,
and did good work during the famine of that year.
In 1877 he became Governor of Bombay. He was
famed for endurance in the saddle, to the discomfort
of his A. D. C.s.
At his heart is his daughter s wedding. Rigid
custom demands that an Indian peasant must lavish
large sums of money on festivities for his daughter's
wedding. To obtain the necessary money he usually
borrows at high rates of interest from a money-lender,
to whom he mortgages everything he possesses. The
debt thus contracted often cripples himself and his
son after him.
13
DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES
THE SONG OF THE WOMEN
When Abdur Rahman, late Amir of Afghanistan,
attended the Viceroy's Durbar at Rawalpindi in 1885,
he made the acquaintance of Lady Dufferin. Later,
when he wrote his autobiography, a work that was not
written with the intention of currying favour with
any one, he said, 'It was a great delight to me to meet
Lady Dufferin, who was the cleverest woman I had
ever seen. The people had never seen such a wise
statesman as their Viceroy, and Lady Dufferin's resi-
dence in India was of hardly less importance than
that of her husband.' This tribute is interesting as
coming from one who had nothing to gain by flattery;
had it come from an Indian prince anxious to curry
favour its genuineness might be open to suspicion.
It is valuable, too, because it comes from an Asiatic,
and the Asiatic point of view on such movements as
that initiated by Lady Dufferin seldom coincides with
European opinion. Lady Dufferin was no mere aris-
tocratic figure-head lending her name and patronage
to a charity conceived and organised by some one
else. Her fund for providing female doctors, nurses,
and midwives for the Indian women was almost en-
tirely her own idea. Queen Victoria had suggested
that she should try and find some way of bettering
the lot of Indian women, and Lady Dufferin was
helped by the experience and the money of many,
English and native, in India ; the scheme, nevertheless,
H
AND OTHER VERSES
was truly hers. She initiated it, and did more than
any one else to further its success. How near the
work was to her heart can be realised by any one who
reads her book, The Story of our Vice-regal Life in
India.
It is interesting to note that this poem has been
inscribed on the wall of a room at Clandeboye, Lord
Duflferin's home.
Stanza i . The Walls are high. The great majority
of better-class women in India have to spend their
whole lives from childhood onwards 'behind the
curtain.' The ' harem ' or ' zenana ' in which a woman
is confined may be a luxuriously gilded prison, or it
may be a squalid, insanitary, airless garret, according
to the means of the husband. In either case, no man
except the woman's husband and nearest relations
are allowed to visit her. She is therefore beyond the
reach of skilled male medical aid, except in exceptional
circumstances in which a doctor is allowed to feel
the pulse of her hand thrust through a curtain. No
other arrangement would be allowed whatever the
ailment. The women's need for skilled medical
aid is the more urgent because many Indian girl-
wives become mothers at the age of twelve. It
was for these reasons that Lady Dufferin's Fund
was instituted, to 'train up and otherwise pro-
vide /(fma/^ doctors, nurses, and midwives' for Indian
women.
The Naulahka, by Rudyard Kipling and Wolcott
IS
DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES
Balestier, deals with an American girl who took charge
of a hospital in a Native State.
THE BALL^VD OF FISHER'S BOARDING-
HOUSE
A seamen's boarding-house is an institution very-
different from the kind of boarding-house known to
most people. The proprietor of a seamen's boarding-
house usually obtains his guests in the first place by
meeting them as soon as they come off their ships, and
winning their regard by advancing them money to
spend before their wages are paid them. He will take
charge of the money when it is paid, and deduct there-
from charges for board and lodging, for drinks which
he supplies, and for articles of kit — oilskins, sea-boots,
etc. — all supplied at grossly exorbitant rates. When
the time comes for the seaman to go to sea again, the
boarding-house master will cash the advance-note
which the man receives on account of the wages that
he will earn, charging a discount of perhaps fifty
per cent, for his trouble. Many boarding-house
masters add to their incomes by shanghaing sea-
men, that is, drugging them and handing them
over at so much per head to any shipmaster who
wants them. As a sailor finds it very difficult to
recover the money that he has entrusted to the
boarding-house master, and as it is to the latter's
interest to make him drunk as quickly as possible in
order to get rid of him the sooner, seamen's board-
i6
AND OTHER VERSES
ing-houses are seldom models of quiet and respect-
ability. •
Collinga and Jaun Bazar, the haunts of 'Anne of
Austria,' are two of the most disreputable quarters
in Calcutta.
AS THE BELL CLINKS
Note here the characteristic noise of curricle-bar
on the ponies' saddles. Tongas are now obsolete on
the Umballa-Simla route.
THE GRAVE OF THE HUNDRED HEAD
Very little has been written about the Burmese
War in a form accessible to the average reader. If the
subject-index of a good library be consulted, it will
probably be found that the general public must go to
Rudyard Kipling more than to any other author for
information on the subject. He has dealt with it in
'The Taking of Lungtungpen' {Plain Tales from the
Hills), 'A Conference of the Powers' {Many Inven-
tions), and 'The Ballad of Boh da Thone' {Barrack-
Room Ballads).
Stanza 4. Samadh. Commemoration or memorial
service over a grave.
Stanza 6. A jingal covered the clearing,
Calthrops hampered the way.
A jingal is a small muzzle-loading light cannon almost
like the swivel or ' murthering-piece ' of the Armada.
Cf. 'Taking of Lungtungpen' {Plain Tales from the
17
DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES
Hills). Calthrops, in this c^se, are sharp pieces of
bamboo scientifically placed in narrow jungle tracks
to maim the unwary.
Stanza 14. Kullah. A foreigner.
WHAT THE PEOPLE SAID
June 2 1st, 1887, the date attached to the poem,
was that on which Queen Victoria celebrated her first
jubilee.
Stanza 3. Mahratta spear. The Mahrattas rose
to power towards the end of the seventeenth century,
and by the end of the eighteenth ruled almost the
whole of India. Their power was broken by the
Afghans at the battle of Paniput in 1761 (see 'With
Scindia to Delhi,' stanza i, p. 59).
Mlech, a term applied by Hindoos to all who are
not Hindoos. In this case it refers to the Moham-
medan Afghans.
Stanza 4. Great serpents, blazing, of red and blue.
The people of India are very fond of pyrotechnic dis-
plays. They have considerable skill in making fire-
works, but less in letting them off. Being blown up
in a firework display that went wrong was one of
the adventures that befell Kim after he evaded his
guardians and took to the road.
Stanza 5. The Bar. Bar is the name given to
each of the sandy tracts, now irrigated by canals, that
lie between the different rivers of the Punjab.
Stanza 6. Mogul. The Mogul emperors ruled
18
AND OTHER VERSES
the greater part of India from early in the sixteenth
century until the rise of the Mahrattas to power.
ONE VICEROY RESIGNS
Lord Lansdowne succeeded Lord Dufiferin as Vice-
roy of India in 1888. In her book, Our Vice-regal Life
in India, Lady Dufferin says that on the Sunday
following the new Viceroy's arrival, 'D. shut himself
up with Lord Lansdowne and talked to him for four
hours without stopping.' The conversation was prob-
ably on the lines suggested in this poem.
The people whose names are hinted at include the
following: Sir Charles Crosthwaite, Chief Commis-
sioner of British Burma, 1 883-1 884; Sir Theodore
Cracroft Hope, Public Works Member of the Gov-
ernor-General's Council, 1 882-1 887; Lord Wolseley,
Adjutant-General to the Forces in 1888; W. E. Glad-
stone, Leader of the Opposition in 1888; Lord Cross,
Secretary for India, 1886-1892; Lord Reay, Governor
of Bombay 1 885-1 890; Sir Auckland Colvin, Financial
Member of the Viceroy's Council, 1883-1887; Sir
Alfred Comyn Lyall, Lieutenant-Governor of the
North- West Provinces, 1 882-1 887; Sir Edward Buck,
Secretary of Revenue and Agricultural Department,
who represented the Government of India at the
Indian and Colonial Exhibition of 1886; Sir James
Westland, Comptroller-General, Financial Depart-
ment, 1880-1885; Sir Alexander Wilson, Member of
the Legislative Council of India and Chairman of the
19
DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES
Mercantile Bank of Bengal; and Sir Charles Aitchison,
Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, Author of A
Collection of Treaties, Engagements, and Sannuds re-
lating to India and neighbouring Countries.
Line 14. It frightened Me in Eighty-Four. In
1884 Lord Dufferin began his term of office as Viceroy
of India.
Line 15. You shouldn't take a man from Canada.
Lord Dufferin was Governor-General of Canada from
1872 to 1878.
Lines 23-24. / go back
To Rome and leisure.
Lord Dufferin was made Ambassador at Rome after
he left India.
Line 27. Egypt served my turn. In 1882 Lord
Dufferin was sent to Egypt as British Commissioner
to report on a scheme of reorganisation.
Lines 41-42. / took a country twice the size of France,
And shuttered up one doorway in the
North.
During his term of office Lord Dufferin annexed
Burma and checked Russia's advance towards India.
Lines Si"S3- Have you met
A grim lay reader with a taste for coins.
And faith in Sin most m,en withhold from God?
This refers to Sir T. C. Hope.
Line 64. Shall I write letters answering H-nt-r —
fawn with R-p-n on the Yorkshire grocers? Sir William
Wilson Hunter, the compiler of the Imperial Gazetteer,
20
AND OTHER VERSES
was in the Indian Civil Service from 1862 to 1887.
During the latter part of his service he contributed
weekly articles on Indian affairs to the Times. Lord
Ripon was Lord Dufferin's immediate predecessor in
India. His policy of curtailing the privileges of the
European in India and enlarging those of the native
was more popular in Yorkshire than among the Eng-
lish in India.
Line 76. Hates cats and knows his business. Lord
Roberts's antipathy to cats is well known. During
Lord Dufferin's tenure of office Lord (then Sir Fred-
erick) Roberts became Commander-in-Chief in India.
Line 127. Lift the salt-tax. (See note, 'The
Rupaiyat of Omar Kal'vin,' stanza 2, p. 11.)
Line 128. The Congress was a political league
founded by A. O. Hume to give the natives an oppor-
tunity of expressing their political views. It had no
official position. It first met at Calcutta in the win-
ter of 1 886-1 887.
Lines 131-132. Ask a Lady Doctor once
How little Begums see the light.
A Begum is a Hindoo princess or lady of rank (see
also note, 'The Song of the Women,' stanza i, p.
IS).
Lines 135-136. / told the Turk he was a gentleman.
I told the Russian that his Tartar
veins
Bled -pure Parisian ichor.
Lord Dufferin established a high reputation for
21
DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES
diplomacy when Ambassador at Petersburg (1879-
1881) and Constantinople (1881-1882).
Line 142. That new land where all the wires are
cut. A British-Indian administrator's idea of heaven
on earth is said to be a place where there are no tele-
graphs, and where consequently he can carry out such
legislation as he, being on the spot, knows to be right
without interference from less well-informed authority
in England.
Line 164. Palaces — with draughts. During the
first few months of her life in India, Lady Dufferin, in
her letters to her mother, published in Our Vice-regal
Life in India, frequently complained of the cold.
Until the hot weather came she found the devices for
admitting as free a current of air as possible into
every room very trying. She speaks particularly of
the agony both she and Lord Dufferin suffered from
the punkahs in church.
A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Stanza i. Stands a City — Charnock chose it — packed
away
Near a Bay —
By the sewage rendered fetid.
Calcutta was founded in 1686 by Job Charnock, a
merchant seaman who became an 'agent' in the ser-
vice of the East India Company. For a vigorous
denunciation of Calcutta's sanitary arrangements see
the articles entitled 'The City of Dreadful Night'
22
AND OTHER VERSES
{From Sea to Sea), in which the Calcutta smell is de-
scribed as resembling ' the essence of corruption that
has rotted for the second time— the clammy odour of
blue slime.'
Stanza 4. " Because for certain months, we boil and
stew.
So should you."
While the seat of the Supreme Government of
India was alternately at Calcutta and at Simla,
residents of the former considered that the Viceroy
and his staff should remain the whole year in Cal-
cutta instead of going to Simla during the summer
months.
St. Lawrence. (See note, *Et Dona Ferentes,'
stanza 3, p. 233.)
Stanza 5. Darjeeling, a hill station in the lower
Himalayas, 367 miles from Calcutta, is the summer
quarters of the Bengal Government.
GIFFEN'S DEBT
Line 5. Turned three farts Mussalman and one
Hindu. A sketch of an English loafer who adopts
native life in India is given in 'To be Filed for Refer-
ence ' {Plain Tales from the Hills) .
Line 67. And may in time become a Solar Myth.
A reference to the theories of those students of
mythology who believe that every legend of gods,
goddesses, demi-gods, etc., is an allegorical reference
to some phenomenon of nature.
23
DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES
IN SPRING TIME
In Beast and Man in India John Lockwood Kip-
ling says that whereas a Western ear finds no more in
the song of the koil than a tiresome iteration of one or
two clear, high, and resonant notes, the Oriental re-
gards it as the most musical of all birds. Moreover,
'the Englishman in India has a grudge against the
koil, listening with modified rapture to notes that
warn him to put up his punkah, overhaul his ther-
mantidote, and prepare for the long St. Lawrence
penance of an Indian summer.'
THE GALLEY SLAVE
This poem is an allegorical tribute to the men of
the Indian Civil Service.
Stanza 2. Bulkheads. Partitions dividing the in-
terior of the vessel into compartments.
Stepped. A mast is held in position by a 'step' or
socket. A mast is 'stepped' at its butt end and
'stayed' with ropes above.
Sweep-head. The handle of the oar.
Stanza 3. Aswe snatched her through the water. Com-
pare the use of the word snatch here with its use in the
' Anchor Song ' ( The Seven Seas),' Over, snatch her over.'
Stanza 5. Yawed and Sheered. Went off her
course, first to one side then to the other.
Stanza 10. Orlop. The lower deck, on which ca-
bles and other heavy gear are stowed.
24
AND OTHER VERSES
. Stanza ii. The top-men cleared the raffle. Crews
of ships in Nelson's time were so organised that each
nnan had his special place aloft, thus the 'fore-top,'
the 'main-top.' and the ' mizzen-top ' would each have
their respective crews. When a ship was in action
her top-men were usually kept busy in repairing rig-
ging damaged by the shot of the enemy.
2S
Barrack-Room Ballads and other Verses
BEYOND THE PATH OF THE
OUTMOST SUN
Stanza 6. To these . . . my brother s spirit
came. Wolcott Balestier, to whose memory these
lines are a tribute, died in December 1891, shortly
after completing The Naulahka, a novel of Indian life
which he wrote in collaboration with Rudyard Kip-
ling. In the following year Rudyard Kipling married
Miss Caroline Star Balestier, the sister of Wolcott
Balestier.
TO T. A. (THOMAS ATKINS)
Thomas or Tommy Atkins is the conventional nick-
name for a soldier in the British army. At one time
the War Office served out to all soldiers manuals in
which each man was to enter his name, age, length of
service, wounds, medals, etc. Precise instructions as
to how these details should be entered were explained
by a specimen entry giving particulars of an imaginary
soldier, called for the purpose Thomas Atkins. The
hypothetical name selected soon became the recog-
nised nickname for a soldier. It is said that the Duke
of Wellington, when commander-in-chief, was asked
26
AND OTHER VERSES
to suggest a name for the purpose of the specimen
entry, and that he chose the name of a private whose
bravery in action had greatly impressed him.
When they 'II give you all your -pay. The minimum
pay of a private soldier, not counting deferred pay,
was a shilling a day at the time when this poem was
written. Deductions might be made from this pay
for repairs to clothing, the replacing of lost, stolen, or
worn-out kit, laundry, hair-cutting, groceries, etc.
The regulations provided that not more than 5|d.
a day might be stopped at any one time except when
a soldier was in hospital, when, as he had diet more
liberal than his ordinary fare, 6d. a day might be
stopped. The question of stoppages is a grievance
to the soldier, who does not he^r until he has en-
listed that the whole of the pay promised him will not
be at his absolute disposal.
DANNY DEEVER
Stanza i. Files on parade. A file consists of a
man in the front rank and the man immediately be-
hind him in the rear rank. Only private soldiers and
sometimes corporals stand and march in the ranks.
'Files on parade' is therefore a term applied to the
common soldier.
Colour-sergeant. The senior sergeant of an infantry
company.
In 'ollow square. The soldiers lining the three sides
of a square and facing inwards. This is the forma-
27
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
tion adopted on ceremonial occasions such as divine
service in the open, or when the battaUon is called
out to receive a message from the sovereign or com-
mander-in-chief, or, as in this case, when a man is
to be publicly hanged. A soldier who had made
himself liable to the death penalty in England would
be handed over to the civil power, but in India or
on active service would be dealt with by the military
authorities.
They've taken of his buttons off and cut his strifes
away. When a soldier is formally disgraced in the
army he is brought under guard to a parade at which
the insignia of his rank as a soldier, such as his regi-
mental badge, the stripes that he may have been
entitled to wear on his sleeve, his buttons, etc., are
cut off.
Stanza 3. 'Is county and the regiment's disgrace.
Most of the infantry regiments in the British army
are recruited from special areas, such as the Lanca-
shire Fusiliers, the Cheshire Regiment, etc.
Stanza 4. You can 'ear the quickstep flay. Before
a military funeral the band plays appropriate slow
music, but when it is all over the men are marched
away to a lively air.
TOMMY
Tommy (see note on 'Thomas Atkins,' p. 26).
Stanza 3. Paradin in full kit. Drilling in full
marching order, carrying rifle, bay(jnet, knapsack,
28
AND OTHER VERSES
great-coat, ammunition-pouches, haversack, water-
bottle, mess-tin, etc.
Thin Red Line. The phrase was coined by Dr.
W. H. Russell, the war correspondent, who applied it
to the 93rd Highlanders in his account of the battle of
Balaclava.
FUZZY-WUZZY
Stanza i. Fuzzy-Wuzzy. A nickname applied to
the Sudanese followers of the Mahdi on account of the
way that many of them wore their hair — long, frizzled,
and often bleached with lime to a dirty hay colour.
Paythan. The Pathans inhabit the mountains on
the Indian North-West Frontier, and include several
virile and exceedingly warlike tribes.
Suakim. A seaport of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
on the Red Sea. It was the headquarters of the Brit-
ish and Egyptian troops operating in the eastern
Sudan against the dervishes under Osman Digna in
1884.
Cat an' banjo. The sort of phrase that a 'Tommy'
who happens to be a wag coins on the spur of the
moment. It is possibly suggested by 'Cat and Fid-
dle,' which is sometimes met with in England as a
public-house sign.
Stanza 2. Kyber 'ills. The home of the Pathans
referred to above, and the scene of much fighting
during the nineteenth century.
The Boers knocked us silly. At the battle of Majuba
29
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
(1881) the excellence of the Boer marksmanship re-
sulted in a severe defeat for the British forces.
Irrizvaddy chills. The Burman cannot be regarded
as an heroic enemy, but the Burmese campaign was
made arduous by the malarial climate of the forest on
the banks of the Irrawaddy River, in which the Brit-
ish had to fight.
Impi. The Zulus, though savages, had a very
elaborate military organisation. Chaka, a Zulu king
during the first half of the nineteenth century, divided
his soldiers into ' impis,' roughly corresponding in size
to British regiments, and established an extraordi-
narily high standard of savage military efficiency. In
1879 a Zulu force practically annihilated the greater
part of a British column at Isandhlwana.
Pop. Ginger-beer ; hence something very mild and
innocuous.
Martinis. The Martini-Henry rifle was in general
use in the British army from 1871 till 1888, when it
was abandoned in favour of the Lee-Metford.
You broke the square. During the expedition
against the Sudanese in 1884 under Sir G. Graham,
an action was fought near Tamai in which the British
troops advanced against the Sudanese in echelon of
brigade squares. The Sudanese, helped by the un-
even nature of the ground, broke into the leading
square and temporarily captured the naval guns.
See The Light that Failed, chap, ii., for a fine descrip-
tion of a charge of Sudanese who 'had not learned
30
AND OTHER VERSES
from books that it is impossible for troops in close
order to attack against breechloading fire.'
SCREW-GUNS
Screw-guns are guns used in mountain warfare,
made in light pieces which can be screwed together
when the gun is to be used or packed separately on
the backs of mules for transport. No piece must be
longer than the length of a mule from neck to rump,
or weigh more than 255 pounds. The whole gun is
in five pieces. These can be unloaded, put together,
and the first round fired within the space of one minute.
Mules are employed in mountain batteries in prefer-
ence to horses, as they are more sure-footed. Some
details of the methods of warfare with screw-guns
are given by 'the breech-piece mule of number two
gun of the First Screw Battery' in 'Servants of the
Queen' {The Jungle Book).
Stanza 2. Naga. The Nagas live among the hills
of Upper Assam. They are a primitive people of abo-
riginal stock, and enthusiastic collectors of the heads
of plainsmen, which they preserve. To get good
specimens they will face any risks. If they have not
time to take the whole head they take the scalp.
Between 1854 and 1865 they raided the Indian plains
nineteen times.
Looshai. The Lushai live to the south-east of the
Nagas. Their principal industry is the plunder of
weaker tribes in Kachar and Burma.
31
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
Afreedeeman. The Afridi are one of the most
powerful Pathan tribes. They are much given to
brigandage in private life, but in the Indian army
prove loyal as well as brave, hardy and self-reliant.
The following piece of history gives an insight into
the Afridi character. Though professedly Moham-
medan, they were at one time so irreligious that there
were no 'mullahs' or priests in the whole tribe. Be-
coming a laughing stock for this reason among neigh-
bouring tribes, they invited a mullah from Peshawur
to do missionary work amongst them. The mullah
strove to impress upon them the spiritual value of
pilgrimages to the tombs of holy men. They had
no shrines of their own to visit, as no Afridi had ever
been a saint, and they could not visit the shrines of
their neighbours, for every tribe's hand was against
them. To overcome the difficulty they turned their
living priest into a dead saint, and thus obtained the
shrine they needed. There have been nine British
campaigns against the Afridis between 1850 and 1909.
CELLS^
Stanza i. Button stick. A piece of flat wood, or
more often metal, cleft down the middle, used by
soldiers when they polish their buttons. It is placed
between the button and the cloth, and thus saves the
latter from being soiled by the metal polish.
Corporal's Guard. A party of three men under the
command of a corporal, whose duty it is to parade the
32
AND OTHER VERSES
vicinity of the barracks and arrest drunken or riotous
soldiers.
Clink. Regimental lock-up, in which prisoners are
confined while awaiting sentence. The name is de-
rived from that of a prison which used to be in South-
wark.
Pack-drill. Drilling in full marching order, carry-
ing rifle, knapsack, great-coat, etc.
C. B. Confinement to barracks. During the pe-
riod of confinement the defaulter is not allowed to visit
the canteen (regimental beer shop) . He must answer
to his name at the guard-room whenever the default-
er's call is sounded, attend all parades, and perform
any fatigue duty assigned to him. The most un-
pleasant fatigue duties are usually performed by
defaulters.
Stanza 2. J dose of gin. Gin mixed with beer
makes a compound named 'Dog's Nose' that is far
more intoxicating than either taken alone.
Stanza 3. Stripes. At the end of two years' ser-
vice a soldier is granted the privilege of wearing a
good conduct stripe, which carries extra pay, if dur-
ing that time he has not committed any serious
offence. After five years' service he gets a second
stripe, and he may possibly get more if he serve long
enough. The stripes are forfeited by serious, bad
conduct. The offence in this case is not so much the
drunkenness as having 'resisted the guard.'
Stanza 4. Ord'lyroom. The Orderly Room. The
33
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
office of the commanding officer who will try the case
and award the punishment.
GUNGA DIN
Stanza i. Bhisti. Water-carrier. The 'bhisti'
must not be confounded with the ' pani wallah,' who
performs for Hindoos the service that the 'bhisti'
performs for Mohammedans. The 'pani wallah'
must always be a Brahman, so that Hindoos of all
castes can accept water from him. The Mohamme-
dan water-carrier is usually a very cheerful, obliging
fellow, ready to turn his hand to any kind of camp
work. The word 'bhisti' literally means 'heavenly
one.' It is applied to him partly in chaff, partly in
recognition of the value of his services in the hour of
sore need.
Stanza 2. Goatskin water-bag. In the East from
time immemorial water-carriers have carried their
water in leather bags. In the Indian army goatskin is
the material of which the bag must be made, as
Mohammedans could not drink from a bag made of
pigskin, and Hindu religious prejudice would be
offended by the use of calf-skin.
Stanza 3. 'E didn't seem to know the use of fear.
It is difficult for those who have never heard shots
fired in anger to realise the high degree of courage
required in non-combatants on a battlefield. The
soldier who is shot at has the satisfaction of shooting
back at his enemy, but the non-combatant, such as
34
AND OTHER VERSES
the water-carrier or stretcher-bearer, is denied this
relief to his feelings. The courage of the Indian
'bhisti' has become proverbial: at the siege of Delhi
a bhisti named Juma, attached to the Queen's Own
Corps of Guides, so distinguished himself for heroism
during the performance of his duty that he received
the star ' For Valour,' till recently the highest dis-
tinction that an Indian soldier could earn. In addi-
tion to this the men of the Guides petitioned that he
should be allowed to join their ranks as a regular
soldier. This was an extreme tribute to Juma's brav-
ery, for the Guides are men of rank and position, and
the social position of a bhisti is very low. Juma
enlisted, became a commissioned officer, and again
won the reward ' For Valour.'
Nut. Head.
Right flank rear. Behind the right hand side of the
company to which he is attached.
Stanza 5. Dooli. A litter of canvas suspended
from a wooden frame, in which the wounded are
carried off the battlefield.
Canteen. Regimental beer shop.
Swig. Drink.
OONTS
Stanza i. Penk. Beat feebly.
Commissariat camel, a camel used for the transport
of food, etc., required by a column on the march.
Stanza 2. Native follower. A regiment on the
35
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
march in India has an exceptionally large number of
camp-followers. The reason for this is primarily
because it is necessary to allow soldiers in the native
regiments to be attended by servants who perform for
them necessary camp duties from which they them-
selves are precluded by religious prejudices. The
climate makes it advisable to lighten the duties of
the British soldier as far as possible, and, moreover,
as the native soldiers are allowed to have servants, it
would lower the prestige of the sovereign race if
British soldiers were made to perform menial camp
duties from which the native soldiers are exempted.
Both British and native regiments, therefore, are
attended by a large number of camp-followers. These
are of three classes. Private camp-followers — officers'
personal attendants, grooms, etc. — who are paid and
rationed by their masters ; regimental camp-followers
— cooks, sweepers, water-carriers, etc.; and lastly,
stretcher-bearers, mule-drivers, etc., paid and rationed
by government.
Paythans. Pathans, Afghan inhabitants of the
mountains on the North-West Frontier.
Socks. Whack, beat.
Stanza 3 . 'E's blocked the whole division from the
rear-guard to the front. The mountain roads on the
Indian North- West Frontier are very narrow, and, as
fate would naturally arrange that a camel should
choose the narrowest part in which to lie down, one
beast could easily render a road temporarily im-
36
AND OTHER VERSES
passable. For a description of the confusion caused
to a column on the march by a blocked road, see
* My Lord the Elephant ' {Many Inventions) .
Stanza 4. 'E'll gall an chafe. Get sores under
his girths and saddle.
LOOT
Stanza i. 'Aver sack. The haversack is a canvas
bag in which a soldier carries such odds and ends as
knife, fork, spoon, an oil-rag for cleaning his rifle, soap,
razor, and one day's ration of biscuits. These last
absorb a unique flavour from contact with the soap
and oil-rag.
Clobber. Clothes.
Loot. A Hindustani word, meaning plunder, that
has now become English. Looting is forbidden to the
British soldier, but it is occasionally winked at by
indulgent officers, who know that what the soldier
leaves will very likely be plundered by the riff-raff that
follow a column for the sake of what they may find.
On one occasion, during the South African war, an
officer whose duty it was to search a farm-house en-
deavoured not to see that his men busied themselves
in catching the fowls. One soldier, however, chasing
a hen round the corner of the house ran into his officer
with such violence that the latter could not ignore the
matter. He charged the soldier with intending to
steal the hen, but Tommy hotly denied it and ex-
plained, 'That's a very vicious fowl, sir, and he'd
37
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
have pecked you in another minute if I hadn't headed
himoflf!'
Stanza 3. Cleanin'-rod. A steel rod used for
pushing the oil-rag through the muzzle of a rifle.
Baynick. Cockney pronunciation of bayonet.
Stanza 5. A quartermaster is a non-combatant
honorary commissioned officer, whose duties are prac-
tically those of a housekeeper to his regiment. In
barracks he assigns the men their quarters. On ser-
vice he arranges the laying out of the camp, and in
general he looks after the stores of food, forage, cloth-
ing, ammunition, etc. A quartermaster is usually a
man of long service and ability who has risen from the
ranks.
The Widow. The late Queen Victoria was thus
affectionately referred to by her soldiers.
Mess-tin. A utensil in two parts, body and lid,
that serves various purposes, such as soup-plate, tea-
cup, and frying-pan. On the march the day's ration
of meat is carried in it.
'SNARLEYOW
Stanza i. The corps which is first among the
women an' amazin fi-rst in war. The Royal Horse
Artillery have the privilege of taking up their position
on the right of the line at reviews and of preceding all
other corps in marching past, though this proud posi-
tion was recently at Aldershot yielded to the Army
Flying Corps. The position of the Horse Artillery in
38
AND OTHER VERSES
the eyes of women is due, perhaps, to the exceptional
splendour of its uniform, which is almost as gl6rious
as that of the Life Guards.
Twds off-lead. The horse whose position in the
harness of No. 2 gun was that of leader on the off-side.
A Horse Artillery gun is drawn by six horses, har-
nessed in pairs, the near-side horse of each pair being
ridden by a driver.
The wheel. The horses harnessed next to the gun.
When the gun is wheeled they have to do the greatest
part of the work.
Bombardier. An Artillery non-commissioned offi-
cer, ranking below a sergeant.
Stanza 3. The limber. The front of a gun-car-
riage, the hinder part being the gun itself. The limber
consists of two wheels, axle-pole, and ammunition-
case. When the gun is in action the limber is sepa-
rated from and drawn up near it.
Stanza 5. Sections. A battery is divided into
three sections of two guns each.
Stanza 7. 'Action front!' The word of command
given when a battery reaches its ground. The gun-
carriages are wheeled round so that the muzzles of
the guns which have been pointing to the rear on the
march now point towards the enemy.
Monday head. A headache that follows too riotous
enjoyment of the Sunday holiday.
Case. Case-shot, used at close quarters for firing
'into the brown' of an enemy. It is now super-
39
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
seded by shrapnel (see note, 'The Jacket/ stanza 2,
p. 189).
THE WIDOW AT WINDSOR
The Widow, an affectionate nickname applied to
the late Queen Victoria by her soldiers.
Stanza i. 'Er nick on the cavalry 'orses. Army
troop horses are marked and numbered on the near
fore-foot.
Stanza 2. The Lodge that zve tile, etc. The allu-
sion is masonic. To tile a Lodge is to guard it against
the intrusion of unauthorised persons.
Stanza 3. Bloomin old rag. The Union Jack.
BELTS
Stanza i. Revelly. Reveille, the bugle call sounded
in the morning as a signal to soldiers to get up. The
various bugle calls have been set to words, not always
seemly, that have become traditional in the army.
The words set to the reveille call are, ' Rise — soldiers
— rise — and put — ^your trou — sers on.'
They called us 'Delhi Rebels,' an' we answered
' Threes About.' A reference to an old regimental
quarrel.
Stanza 4. Liffey, the river that flows through
Dublin.
Stanza 5. Side-arm. Bayonet.
Stanza 7. Clink. The cells in which a prisoner
awaits trial.
40
AND OTHER VERSES
THE YOUNG BRITISH SOLDIER
Stanza 2. You shut up your rag-box. 'Hold your
tongue'; rag := tongue.
Stanza 4. Go on the shout. Treat comrades to
drink. 'To shout' is to pay for a drink for some one
else.
Stanza 6. Fatigue. Various forms of work which
a soldier is liable to be called upon to perform outside
the ordinary round of such duties as drill, mounting
guard, cleaning stables, etc., are called 'fatigue' du-
ties. These include such work as carrying coals,
scrubbing barrack-room floors, unloading forage-wag-
gons, etc. Men are chosen for the regular duties,
such as guard-mounting, in rotation, but the sergeant
warns as many men for fatigues as bethinks necessary,
and is apt to give more than a fair share of work to a
slacker.
Stanza 7. // you must marry. When a soldier
marries by permission of the authorities he must have
not less than seven years' service and two good-
conduct badges to his credit. He must produce proof
that he has at least £5, and satisfy his commanding
officer that his wife is respectable. He will then be
allowed quarters or lodging allowance, free medical
attendance for wife and family, free transport when
the regiment moves, and he will have an allowance
in lieu of rations, fuel, light, etc. If his duties re-
quire him to leave his wife for a time, he will also
41
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
have separation allowance. His wife will be per-
mitted to earn money by washing in the regimental
laundry for a proportion of men in her husband's com-
pany or squadron. Three per cent, of infantry men,
four per cent, of cavalry and artillery, and fifty per
cent, of the sergeants are allowed to marry. A man
who marries without leave, and is thus unable to get
his wife 'on the strength' of the regiment, is in a mis-
erable position, as his expenses are heavier than they
would be in civilian life, and he has less money with
which to meet them.
Stanza lo. Martini. Martini-Henry rifle, in use
in the army from 1871 till 1888.
Stanza 11. When shaking their bustles. The lim-
ber or forepart of a gun-carriage is attached to the
gun itself only by a shackle, which allows considerable
play. When, therefore, the gun-carriage is drawn
over rough ground the gun bumps along behind, shak-
ing from side to side very much as a bustle must have
done if the wearer of one had ever been indiscreet
enough to run in the days when they were worn.
Stanza 12. Open Order. Spread out so as to af-
ford the enemy the least possible target.
MANDALAY
Stanza i . The old Flotilla. The steamers of the
Irrawaddy Flotilla Company.
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China
'crost the Bay! This line has been sometimes mis-
42
AND OTHER VERSES
understood by those who do not reahse that it is on
the road to Mandalay that the dawn comes up across
the bay (the Bay of Bengal).
For a vivid description of the charm of Burma and
the Burmese, see Rudyard Kipling's personal narra-
tive in From Sea to Sea.
TROOPIN'
Stanza i . A Fourp'ny bit. The fourpence a day
paid to men when they are transferred to the Army
reserve at the expiration of their period of service with
the colours.
Stanza 2. The Malabar's in 'arbour with the Jum-
ner at ' er tail. The Indian Government formerly
possessed a fleet of six troopships, named the Malabar^
Jumna, Orontes, Euphrates, Serapis, and Crocodile.
The Serapis is mentioned in 'The Madness of Private
Ortheris ' {Plain Tales from the Hills) .
Stanza 4. New draf's. Drafts of new recruits
forwarded from the depots in England.
THE WIDOW'S PARTY
Stanza i. Lay. Cockney slang for a trade or oc-
cupation of any sort. A pickpocket, for instance,
who decided to try his hand at burglary might say
that he would ' have a shot at a new lay,' or if he pre-
ferred to stay in his former profession he might tell
a pal that he was 'still on the same old lay.'
Gosport. A fortified seaport on the shores of Ports-
43
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
mouth harbour, used to a great extent as a naval and
military depot.
Stanza 3 . What did you do for knives and forks?
A reference to the regulation side-arms — that is,
swords and bayonets.
Stanza 4. Mess. For convenience in the issue of
rations the members of a company or troop are divided
into different ' messes.' Food is issued in bulk to the
representative of a mess, who carries it away for the
members of his mess to divide among themselves.
Stanza 5. In India the work of carrying the
wounded off the field of battle is performed by natives.
The wounded are placed in canvas litters called
'doolies.'
FORD O' KABUL RIVER
These verses are founded on an accident that oc-
curred to a squadron of British cavalry while fording
the Kabul River during the Afghan War of 1879.
GENTLEMEN-RANKERS
Stanza i. Machinely crammed. Educated more
with a view to the successful passing of examinations
than to the understanding on broad lines of the sub-
ject learned.
Stanza 2. Stables. The daily duty in a cavalry
regiment of grooming and feeding horses and cleaning
out the stables.
Kitchen slops. The daily routine of barrack life
44
AND OTHER VERSES
necessarily includes work that in private households
is performed by domestic servants. Such work, of
course, is extremely repugnant to a man who has been
reared amid comfortable surroundings.
Rider. In each troop one man, who must be an
expert horseman, is charged with the duty of taming
refractory horses. He wears as a badge a spur worked
in worsted on his sleeve. The rough-rider's rank
does not entitle him to employ a servant, a privilege
which is reserved for those above the rank of sergeant,
but there is nothing in the Regulations to prevent his
making a private arrangement with a comrade of his
own rank to clean his boots and perform other menial
services for him.
Stanza 4. The Curse of Reuben. When Jacob was
on his deathbed he said to his eldest son, Reuben,
'Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel,' see Genesis,
xlix. 4.
ROUTE MARCHIN'
Stanza i. Marchin on relief. Regiments in India
are not kept long at one station. When one regiment
moves out of a station and another comes to take its
place, the latter is said to relieve the former.
Grand Trunk Road. One of the most famous high-
ways in the world. It runs right across northern
India from Calcutta to Peshawur. It is supposed to
have been begun by Sher Shah, the Afghan usurper,
who ruled Bengal before the Moguls. The Mogul
45
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
emperors improved it. It is shaded by avenues of
trees, and there are wells and rest-houses at frequent
intervals along its length, and a camping-ground for
the use of troops at every ten miles. Every year a
third of the area of each camping-ground is ploughed
up so as to keep the soil wholesome. For a descrip-
tion of the varied life on this great highway see Kim.
Stanza 2. A rifle-sling. A band of white leather
with which the rifle may be hung from the shoulder.
Stanza 3. Revelly. Reveille, the bugle call with
which a camp is aroused in the morning (see note,
'Belts,' stanza i, p. 40).
Stanza 4. Open order. On first leaving camp
soldiers have to march at attention, their rifles at the
slope on the left shoulder. Soon afterwards, at the
word ' open order,' discipline is relaxed, the men may
talk or sing and carry their rifles as they please,
moving them from hand to hand or shoulder to
shoulder, so that no one set of muscles gets un-
necessarily tired.
Stanza 6. Rookies. Recruits.
// your 'eels are blistered. It is of the utmost im-
portance that a foot-soldier should learn to take care
of his feet. Parades are frequently ordered for 'foot
inspection,' at which every man must take off his
boots and socks and submit his feet for examination,
lest neglected corns, blisters, etc., should lame him.
A man who cannot march cannot fight.
Stanza 7. Injia's coral strand. A quotation from
46
AND OTHER VERSES
the well-known hymn 'From Greenland's Icy Moun-
tains,' by Reginald Heber, Bishop of Calcutta from
1823 to 1826.
SHILLIN' A DAY
Stanza i. Revelly. The first bugle call of the day
(see 'Belts,' stanza i, p. 40).
Birr to Bareilly, etc. Birr is in King's County,
Ireland, Bareilly in the Rohilkhand division of the
Indian United Provinces, and Leeds in Yorkshire.
Lahore is the capital of the Punjab. Hong Kong is
the easternmost military outpost of the British
Empire. Peshawur is the capital of the Indian North-
West Frontier Province. Lucknow is the headquar-
ters of the 8th division of the northern army in India.
Etawah, in the Agra division of the United Provinces
of India, has ceased to be a military station, and only
long-service men could boast of having been stationed
there.
All ending in 'pore.' The Sanskrit pura, 'a town,
city, or village,' is found in more or less its original
form in several Indian languages, e. g. Bi']apur, Ber-
ham^or^, Punder^oor, Avanoor, Tanjor^, Trichino-
poly, etc. The Greek polis, ' a city,' probably comes
from the same root.
Cast from the Service. Invalided as being no longer
fit for duty.
Stanza 2. Ghazi. The name given to Mohamme-
dan fanatics who have taken a vow to exterminate
47
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
'unbelievers' with the sword. In action these men
charge their enemy recklessly, believing that if they
themselves are killed their souls will immediately be
carried to Paradise. A charge by Ghazi fanatics is
described in 'The Drums of the Fore and Aft' {Wee
Willie Winkie) .
Commissairin' . Serving as a commissionaire or
messenger. The Corps of Commissionaires was
founded in 1859 by Captain Sir Edward Walter,
K. C. B., with the intention of providing occupation
for old soldiers who were unfit for heavy work. The
fact that long service with the colours tends to inca-
pacitate a man for any decently paid civil occupation
is one of the main reasons why men do not care to
enlist. It is a tragedy that many men of excellent
character and intelligence, who have served their
country well, can find no more dignified occupation
on leaving the service than the opening and shutting
of a hotel or restaurant door, or should be obliged to
compete against small boys for posts as messengers.
It is constantly urged that such posts as those of door-
keepers, etc., in the government offices should be
reserved for ex-soldiers, but these posts are too fre-
quently given to men who have no higher claim on
their country than having served as butlers, footmen,
or coachmen to successful politicians.
Grand Metropold. The names Grand and Metro-
pole are favourite names for large hotels in the most
"important English cities and towns.
48
AND OTHER VERSES
THE BALLAD OF EAST AND WEST
Line 8. Turned the calkins upon her feet. Turned
her shoes round so as to confuse any one attempting to
follow the mare by her footprints.
Line 9. The Guides. The Queen's Own Corps of
Guides, located at Mardan, one of the most famous
corps in the Indian army. It was raised in 1846 by
Sir Harry Lumsden by direction of Sir Henry Law-
rence, who realised the Indian North-West Frontier's
need — to protect outlying portions of the frontier,
and to keep the tribesmen in check — of a thoroughly
mobile force of troops, both horse and foot, composed
of individuals able not only to fight but to act quickly
and intelligently on their own initiative in times of
emergency. It had at first one troop of cavalry and
two companies of infantry. It has now 1400 men.
Twenty-seven of its officers are British, the rest na-
tive. The corps is recruited from among the fighting
races of the frontier, and in order to provide scouts
with local knowledge in frontier wars, it alone among
Indian regiments obtained permission to recruit men
from beyond the frontier. Afridis, Yusufzai, Pathans,
Khuttucks, Swats, Sikhs, Punjabi Mohammedans,
Parsiwans (Afghan Persians), Dogras, Kabulis, Gurk-
has, Turcomans, etc., serve in its ranks. Some In-
dian princes and several ex-outlaws have served as
Guides. The corps is famous for the courage, loyalty,
and intelligence of its individual members and for its
49
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
efficiency as a whole. At one time no less than thirty-
four of its members were entitled to wear the star
' For Valour/ until recently the highest reward that
could be earned by an Indian soldier, and an excep-
tionally large proportion of its commanding officers
have met soldiers' deaths. The Guides were the first
to wear a loose-fitting, workman-like, dust-coloured
(kharki) uniform instead of the showy and unservice-
able uniform formerly in favour both in the British
and the Indian army.
Line II. Ressaldar. Native captain in an Indian
cavalry regiment.
Line 13. Abazai — Bonair. Two frontier dis-
tricts of the Punjab near the headquarters of the
Corps of Guides. They are about forty miles
apart.
Line 16. The Tongue of Jagai. The scene of the
battle described in 'The Drums of the Fore and Aft'
{Wee Willie Winkie) .
Line 42. * 'Tzvas only by favour of mine,' quoth he,
'ye rode so long alive.' The Afghans have the greatest
admiration for courage. When the Malakand garri-
son was surprised (July 1897) two officers, Lieutenants
Rattray and Minchin, were playing polo there. It
was the duty of these two officers to make the des-
perate attempt to get back to their station, an outpost
named Chakdara, seven miles from the Malakand
garrison. On their way there they met, and (as they
held steadily on their way) were at the mercy of, the
so
AND OTHER VERSES
insurgent Afghans, who, admiring their pluck, instead
of attacking them wished them Godspeed.
Line 82. Peshawur. The city in which is the
principal military station of the North- West Frontier
Province.
Line 86. The wondrous names of God. The real
name of God is, according to Mohammedan belief,
known only to prophets and apostles. Whoever
knows it has power to raise the dead and perform
other miracles. The Most Great Name of God being
a secret. He is known by ninety-nine other epithets
which are revealed in the 7th chapter of the Koran.
The camel also knows the hundredth secret name of
God. It was told him as a compensation for the
hardships of his life on earth. He has never revealed
it, but preserves a supercilious demeanour on account
of his knowledge. Look at any camel for the truth
of this !
Line 92. ' To-night 'tis a man of the Guides!' The
Corps of Guides has from time to time admitted out-
laws to its ranks. The most notable of these was a
Khuttuck robber named Dilawar, on whose head was
a price of 1,000 rupees. Sir Harry Lumsden was so
impressed with this man's enterprise, daring, and
intimate knowledge of the country, that he sent a
message inviting him to come under safe conduct to
the Guides' camp and discuss matters. Dilawar
came. Lumsden offered to recruit him in the corps,
promising that if he refused the offer he should be
SI
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
hanged as soon as he could be fairly caught. Dilawar
refused, and was, of course, allowed to leave the
camp. Later he came in and enlisted. Years after-
wards he confessed that his intention in so doing was
to learn British methods of warfare and then return
to brigandage. The integrity of the British so im-
pressed him, however, that he became a loyal and
devoted soldier. He rose to the rank of subadar
(infantry captain). Trained originally for the Mo-
hammedan priesthood, Dilawar always delighted in
religious controversies, both with mullahs of his own
faith and with Christian missionaries. Becoming
dissatisfied with Islam, he became Christian in 1858,
twelve years after he had joined the Guides. He died
of cold and exposure in a mountain pass while on a
secret and dangerous mission for the Government.
THE LAST SUTTEE
By the act of suttee, i. e. sharing her husband's
funeral pyre, a Hindu widow believes that she not only
makes atonement for her husband's and her own sins,
but secures for herself reunion with him in heaven.
Stanza i. The Women's wing. The wives of Raj-
poots are jealously secluded from the sight of all men
except their nearest relations.
Stanza 2. Ulwar sahre and Tonk jezail,
Mewar headstall and Marzvar mail.
Every Rajpoot prince takes a pride in his armoury, in
which beautiful and costly swords, matchlocks inlaid
52
AND OTHER VERSES
with mother-of-pearl and gold, rhinoceros-hide shields
painted and enamelled in gold and silver, buflfalo-horn
bows, spears, daggers, etc., are carefully preserved.
Ulwar, Tonk, Mewar, and Marwar are all Rajpoot
States.
Stanza 3. Boondi — a Rajpoot State described in
•Letters of Marque' {From Sea to Sea). No Rajpoot
may marry a woman who is not a Rajpoot.
Stanza 4. Malwa — a district to the east of Raj-
putana. Abu — a famous isolated mountain on the
west of the desert of Rajputana.
Stanza 7. Nautch-girl — professional dancing-girl.
Nautch-girls belong to a low class, and instead of be-
ing secluded in zenanas, as the women's quarters are
called, go to one house or another as their professional
services are required. Should, however, a man adopt
one as his concubine he would seclude her in his house.
Stanza 10. The Sun-born. Some Rajpoots claim
descent from a solar race, some from a lunar race, and
some from a sacred fire once kindled on Mount Abu.
The royal clans all belong to the military caste and are
intensely proud of their race. Rajpoot literally means
son of a rajah.
Stanza 17. Thakur. A title equivalent to 'lord'
or 'baron,' from Sanskrit Thakur a, 'honourable.'
THE BALLAD OF THE KING'S MERCY
Line i. Abdhur Rahman was Amir of Afghanis-
tan from i8'8o till 1901. Before reaching the throne
S3
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
he had experienced many vicissitudes and had known
danger and poverty, (In 'The Amir's Homily' {Life's
Handicap) Abdhur Rahman tells his court how once
he had earned money as a coolie.) During his reign
he did as much for Afghanistan as King Alfred for
England or Peter the Great for Russia. He ruled
over a turbulent people who could be held in check
only by fear. He was never safe from mutiny or
assassination. His punishments were fiendish, but
his self-sacrifice was splendid. So preoccupied was
he with the enormous amount of work which he
undertook, that he scarcely visited his harem more
than two or three times in the year, preferring to eat
and sleep in the room in which he transacted the
business of the State. Every one in his kingdom had
access to him. If a petition was sent to him by post
marked 'Not to be opened by any one except the
Amir,' no one dared tamper with it. Very often the
Amir sent an answer in his own handwriting.
Durani. The dominant tribe in Afghanistan. It
is pure Afghan stock, claiming direct descent from
Jeremiah, son of Saul the first king of Israel.
Line 4. Balkh to Kandahar. Balkh is in the ex-
treme north and Kandahar in the south of Afghanis-
tan.
Line 5. Before the old Peshawur gate. Among the
Semitic peoples of the East the neighbourhood of city
gates has from time immemorial been used as meeting-
places for administration of justice, discussion of pub-
54
AND OTHER VERSES
lie matters, and ordinary gossip. Cf. many references
in the Old Testament. The theoretical reason for
administering justice in the city gate is in order to
afford ready access to all.
Kurd. The Kurds inhabit the high country that
separates Asiatic Turkey from Persia.
Kaffir literally means one who denies — an infidel
from the Mohammedan point of view. The word is
in one sense restricted to the pagan inhabitants of the
Hindoo Kush mountains to the north-east of Afghan-
istan. In another sense, in which it is used here, it
means any non-Mohammedan. The Afghans are all
Mohammedans.
Line 9. There was a hound of Hindustan had struck
a Eusufzai. The Eusufzai are Afghan inhabitants of
the district north and east of Peshawur. As the
Afghans have for centuries regarded the inhabitants
of India with contempt, the blow was unforgivable.
Line 17. Daoud Shah was at one time commander-
in-chief of the Amir's army. In his autobiography
Abdhur Rahman stated that Daoud Shah received
3000 sovereigns for inciting the mob to massacre Sir
Louis Cavagnari and his party.
Line 25. Abdhur Rahman, the Durani Chief, to
the North and the South is sold. An allusion to the idea
prevalent at the time that Amir Abdhur Rahman in-
trigued equally with England and Russia.
Line 26. Ghilzai. A Pathan tribe of mixed Afghan
and Persian stock. The Ghilzai revolted soon after
SS
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
Abdhur Rahman came to the throne, and at the time
that this poem was written seemed likely to revolt
again.
Line 27. Heratis. People of Herat on the Afghan-
Persian frontier, which has been ruled alternately,
according to the fortunes of war, by shah and amir.
They were always ready to revolt under Abdhur
Rahman.
Line 28. Abazai. Part of the country near the
Malakand Pass inhabited by the Eusufzai tribe.
Line 51. Sungar. A wall of stones erected to
afford cover from rifle fire.
Usbeg. A tribe mostly Turkish in origin, inhabit-
ing the country to the west of Balkh in Afghanistan
as well as Bokhara and other parts of Central Asia,
Abdhur Rahman's bodyguard, when he visited Lord
Dufferin in 1885, was largely composed of Usbegs
(see note, 'The Ballad of the King's Jest,' line 78, p.
Line 52. Zuka Kheyl. The strongest and most
warlike clan of Afridis of Pathan-Indian stock, oc-
cupying the vicinity of the Khyber Pass.
Line 54. ' See that he do not die.' Abdhur Rahman
displayed much originality in the invention of punish-
ments. Many of them were sickeningly brutal, and
most were devised with a certain terrible humour (see
'The Ballad of the King's Jest' for one of these).
Line 59. Ramazan. The ninth month of the
Mohammedan year, throughout which every Moham-
56
AND OTHER VERSES
medan must fast, abstaining from water as well as
food, from dawn till sunset of each day.
THE BALLAD OF THE KING'S JEST
Line 2. Kafilas — caravans. Some of the Ghilzai
tribes are almost wholly engaged in the carrying trade
between India and the northern states of Central Asia.
For mutual protection against robbers the merchants
with their families and flocks travel in bands under
a military organisation. Some caravans will have as
many as a thousand fighting men, besides women and
children. As soon as the spring frees the mountain
passes from snow, they leave their families and flocks
in a standing camp and come down into India selling
furs, drugs, shawls, carpets, madder, asafoetida, etc.
On their return they carry back cotton piece-goods,
tea, spices, etc.
Line 18. Fort Jumrood commands the entrance
from the Indian side of the Khyber Pass.
Line 37. Hookah. A form of pipe commonly
used in India, Arabia, Persia, etc., in which the tobacco
smoke is cooled and purified by passing through
water.
Line 43. A grey-coat guard. The Russians are
called 'greycoats' in contradistinction to British
'redcoats.'
Helmund river during part of its length forms the
boundary between Afghan and Persian Seistan.
Line 57. Khuttuck. The Khuttuck Pathans are
57
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
allied to the Afghans in speech and religion but not in
blood. The full-blooded Afghan's contempt for the
Khuttuck is due to the fact that the latter have fre-
quently been raided by the more virile race. Placed
in a difficult position between Afghanistan and India,
the Khuttucks have had to hunt with the hare and
run with the hounds.
Line 74. In full Durbar. A Durbar may be
either a stately^ ceremonial or an ordinary council
meeting for the discussion of State affairs.
Line 78. Gholam Hyder, the Red Chief. Gholam
Hyder Ali, the Amir's Commander-in-Chief, a huge
red-bearded, blue-eyed man, accompanied the Amir
on his visit to Lord Dufferin in 1885. In Mr. Kip-
ling's account of that event he describes Gholam
Hyder's personal exertions on the platform of Pesha-
wur station at midnight, when the railway authorities
were trying to entrain the Amir's Usbeg bodyguard,
'eight hundred men and eight hundred horses, who
had never seen a train before.' Gholam Hyder, Mr.
Kipling asserts, almost threw the horses bodily into
the trucks.
Line 81. The face of the king showed dark as
death. Abdhur Rahman (see note 'The Ballad of the
King's Mercy,' line i, p. 53) was a man of extraor-
dinary self-reliance and little apt to be disturbed by
bad news. While he was at Rawal Pindi conferring
with Lord Dufferin, then Viceroy of India, he was in-
formed that the Russians had invaded his territory
S8
AND OTHER VERSES
at Panjdeh. The news of an incident which nearly
brought about war between England and Russia was
received by Abdhur Rahman with perfect equanimity.
He evidently regarded it as one of those irregularities
which are bound to occur occasionally on a rough and
unsettled frontier, too trivial to be noticed by any
Central Asian ruler who desired to have any peace of
mind at all.
Line 105. Mowed — grimaced.
Line 106. As a sloth. Sloths live for choice
among trees, usually hanging, body downwards, from
the branches.
WITH SCINDIA TO DELHI
These verses are based on the story of 'Salun the
Beragun,' written by an orientalized Englishman
(name unknown) under the nom de plume of 'Mirza
Moorad Alee Beg,' some thirty years ago. Cf.
MTntosh Jellaludin's allusion to him in 'To be Filed
for Reference' {Plain Tales from the Hills).
Stanza i . When we went forth to Paniput to battle
with the Mlech. Many battles have been fought at
Paniput, near Delhi. The first recorded was in 1300
B. c, but the one which forms the subject of this poem
was fought between Mahrattas and Afghans, in 1761.
The Mahratta Confederacy was then at the height of
its power. It ruled, or exacted tribute from, the
whole of India as far north as the Indus and the
Himalayas, until the Afghan invasion under Ahmed,
59
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
king of Kabul. The battle of Paniput was waged
for possession of the Jumna fords. The Afghans,
though themselves in straits for want of food, evaded
a pitched battle as long as possible, knowing that the
more improvident and less hardy Mahrattas were less
fitted to endure privation than themselves. At last
the Mahrattas could endure the strain no longer.
'The cup is now full to the brim and cannot hold
another drop,' said Sewdasheo Rao, the Bhao, who
was in command. At night the last of the food was
distributed, so that each man should have one full
meal. Next morning the Mahrattas moved out to
the attack (see also note to stanza 4, p. 61).
Our hands and scarves were saffron dyed. Knowing
that they were to die, many of the Mahrattas, to
indicate that they would accept no quarter, put on the
saffron robe, disarranged their turbans, and anointed
their hands and faces with a preparation of yellow
turmeric. A man who yielded to the foeman after so
doing would be utterly disgraced.
Mlech. A term applied by Hindoos to all who are
not Hindoos.
Stanza 2. The Mahratta force amounted to
5S,ooo horse, 15,000 foot, and 200 cannon, besides
many Pindharees or irregular troops, who received no
pay but were allowed to accompany the army on con-
dition that they shared their loot with the Mahratta
generals. The Afghan forces with their Rohilla allies
amounted to 41,800 horse, 38,000 foot, 70 cannon,
60
AND OTHER VERSES
and a large number of irregulars. The great cannon
Zam Zammah, that stands before the doors of the
museum at Lahore, and on which Kim was sitting
when he first met his Lama, was captured from the
Mahrattas at Paniput.
Damajee was the eldest son of Pilaji Gaekwar. He
was pledged to maintain 10,000 horse and assist the
Peishwa (Mahratta hereditary prime minister) when
called upon. Bhao means literally brother or cou-
sin. Sewdasheo Chimnajee Bhao was cousin to the
Peishwa. Mulhar Rao belonged to the Dhangar or
shepherd caste. He had begun life by herding his
uncle's flocks, and had risen to power as a military ad-
venturer. In the events preceding the battle Mulhar
Rao had tried to run with the hare and hunt with the
hounds.
Stanza 3. Bhowani is a war-goddess and wife of
Siva. Sivaji, founder of the Mahratta power, had a
sword called Bhowani, which after his death was
placed in a specially built temple and worshipped
annually by his descendants. The war goddess's
spirit was supposed to reside in it.
Stanza 4. Hills of Khost. Mountains to the
south-east of Kabul in Afghanistan.
Rohillas. Pathan allies of the Afghans.
The Mahrattas charged gallantly, and the Afghan
leader was obliged to send his personal guards to the
camp to drive out all who were shirking the battle.
At a critical moment Wiswas Rao, the Peishwa's son,
61
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
was killed. Sewdasheo Rao, the Bhao, sent a message
to Mulhar Rao for help, but immediately afterwards
descended from his elephant, mounted his Arab
charger and fled. Mulhar Rao also fled, followed by
Damajee. Then the whole Mahratta army became
suddenly demoralised, and the Afghans advancing
massacred them as they scattered. Only a quarter of
the Mahratta forces escaped — the number of the slain
being estimated at two hundred thousand. The
headless body of the Bhao was found on the field, but
Damajee and Mulhar Rao escaped. The battle of
Paniput, by weakening the Mahratta power, furthered
the British conquest of India.
Stanza 6. Upsaras are spirits of the clouds and
waters. They are handmaidens of Indra and dance
before his throne. When a battle is raging on earth
they guide to paradise the spirits of those who have
fallen, whose wives they then become. In Tod's
Annals of Rajasthan there is a translation of a passage
in the poems of Chand Bardai which describes the
Upsaras preparing to receive the souls of the dead
warriors and incidentally throws an interesting side-
light on the toilette of an Indian lady of the thirteenth
century a. d. While the warriors anointed their
bodies for the battle, the celestial Upsaras with am-
brosial oils and heavenly perfumes anointed their
silver forms, tinged their eyelids, and prepared for
the reception of the heroes. ' The heroes gird on their
armour, while the heavenly fair deck their persons.
62
AND OTHER VERSES
They place on their heads the helm; these adjust the
corset. They tighten the girths of the war-steed ; the
fair of the world of bliss bind on the anklet of bells.
Nets of steel defend the turban's fold; they braid their
hair with golden flowers and gems. The warrior
polishes his falchion; the fair tints the eyelid. The
hero sharpens his dagger; the fair paints a heart on
her forehead. He braces on his ample buckler; she
places the resplendent orb in her ear. He binds his
arm with a gauntlet of brass ; she stains her hand with
the henna. The hero decorates his hand with the
tiger claw. The Upsara ornaments with rings and
golden bracelets. The warrior shakes his ponderous
lance ; the heavenly fair the garland of love to decorate
those who fall in the battle. The warrior strings his
bow; the fair assume their killing glances. Once
more the heroes look to their girths, while the celes-
tial fair prepare their cars.'
A Rajput riding to battle wore a wreath on his
head in preparation for his celestial bridal.
Other spirits that, according to Hindoo mythology,
are interested in a battle are the Yoginis who drink
the blood, and the Palcharas who eat the flesh, of the
slain.
Bhagwa Jhanda. The standard of the Mahratta
Confederacy.
Stanza 9. Scindia. Mahdaji Scindia was the son
of a military adventurer who had risen from the post
of slipper-bearer to the Peishwa to a command in his
63
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
master's bodyguard. He ultimately became one of
the leading Mahratta chiefs. He attempted to carry
on the fight at Paniput after Mulhar Rao had deserted.
Soobah. Leader of a troop of 625 horsemen.
Stanza 11. Lalun. In the story 'On the City
Wall' {In Black and White) another Lalun, a member
of the same ancient profession, sings a 'laonee,' sung
by this Lalun on the eve of the battle of Paniput.
Stanza 13. Populzai. One of the clans of the
Durani Afghans.
THE DOVE OF DACCA
Although 'The Dove of Dacca' is not included in
the English edition of Barrack-Room Ballads, these
notes are inserted here because the poem follows
'With Scindia to Delhi' in the Collected Verse of
Rudyard Kipling.
Stanza i . The thorns have covered the city of Gaur.
The ancient capital of Central Bengal — long since
ruined — is in the Maldah district, on a deserted chan-
nel of the Ganges. Gaur used to be between 20 and
30 square miles in extent. Now it is covered with
jungle, and its ruins have been taken stone by stone
for the building of mosques and palaces in Murshe-
dabad.
Stanza 3. Fire the palace, the fort, and the keep —
Leave to the foeman no spoil at all.
On many occasions in Indian history women have
performed the rite known asjohar, i. e. self-sacrifice to
64
AND OTHER VERSES
avoid capture and rape by a conqueror. In 1294
A. D. twenty-four thousand women besieged in Jeysul-
meer perished voluntarily by sword and flame when
it was realised that the city could no longer be held.
Their men-folk then performed purification ceremo-
nies, donned the saffron robe (see note on 'With Scin-
dia to Delhi,' stanza i, p. 59), and marched out of the
city to die. In 1303 the Pathan Emperor besieged
Chitor in order to capture the famous beauty Pudmini.
To avoid capture and the dishonour that would in-
evitably follow Pudmini and all her women, taking
with them everything of value in the palace, shut
themselves up in a subterranean room which they
then set on fire. The rite of johar was most fre-
quently performed by Rajpoots.
THE BALLAD OF BOH DA THONE
A Pretender to Theehaiv s throne. Theebaw, King
of Upper Burma, came to the throne in 1878, and,
under the influence of Supi-yaw-lat, his queen, massa-
cred all such of his relatives — men, women, and chil-
dren — as he could catch. In so doing he followed the
example of most of his predecessors, for, as the mon-
archy in Burma was confined to members of the royal
family but was not hereditary, each successive king
on reaching the throne endeavoured to exterminate
all possible rivals. Such male members of the royal
family as escaped took to dacoity (brigandage), partly
for a livelihood and partly in order to have an armed
65
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
force ready prepared in case events made feasible a
forcible bid for the throne.
On yth November 1885 King Theebaw ordered his
subjects to drive the British out of Lower Burma,
which had been a British province since 1867. Seven
days later the British troops crossed the frontier and
advanced to Mandalay, captured King Theebaw, and
sent him a prisoner to Bombay. Theebaw's troops
had not made any serious attempt to oppose the
British advance, but had disbanded of their own
accord and taken to the jungle, where they either
joined existing bands of dacoits or formed new bands.
Though none of them any longer had hopes of seizing
Theebaw's throne, the various dacoit Bohs (captains)
were disinclined to abandon dacoity, a profession
which they had found lucrative, adapted to their
tastes, and^until then — fairly safe. For two years
the British troops were engaged in freeing the country
from these dacoit bands. The war was prolonged,
not by any particular valour on the part of the da-
coits, but because the thick Burmese jungle makes
the whole country one vast military obstacle. The da-
coit gangs seldom stood their ground when attacked,
and their flight was usually led by their Boh. *A
Conference of the Powers' [Many Inventions) and
'The Taking of Lungtungpen' {Plain Tales from the
Hills) are stories of the Burmese war.
V. P. P. The value-payable parcels post, by which
the value of the goods mailed is collected on delivery
66
AND OTHER VERSES
by the post office. The Indian Government was the
pioneer in this postal development.
Senior Gomashta. Accountant in charge of Govern-
ment bullock train.
Stanza 2. The Peacock Banner. The Burmese
national flag.
Stanza 3 . From the Salween scrub to the Chindwin
teak — i. e. right across Burma from south-east to
north-west.
Stanza 4. He filled old ladies with kerosene. It
was the practice of the dacoits to torture their victims
in order to make them confess where their money was
hidden, and to mutilate those they killed in order to
terrorise others. The Burmese are extraordinarily
callous to the sight of suffering in others, and many
of the tortures they devised were fiendishly cruel.
Stanza 10. And his was a Company, seventy strong.
Owing to the thickness of the jungle and the difficul-
ties of communication, the operation of large forces
was impossible. Small flying columns were therefore
set to patrol districts. The method of operations
adopted was to surprise villages where dacoits were
reported to be, and to attack if resistance were offered-
The Boh usually left his followers to bear the brunt
of an attack, and fled to recruit a new gang as soon
as opportunity offered.
Stanza 33. Babu. (See introductory note, 'What
Happened,' p. 5.)
Stanza 52. Blade that twanged on the locking-ring.
67
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
The locking-ring is the portion of the bayonet-joint
that slips over a projection on the muzzle of the Mar-
tini when bayonets are fixed. The soldier was guard-
ing the downward blow of a Burmese dah with his
lifle and fixed bayonet.
Stanza 71. Dammer. (See note, 'The Rhyme of
the Three Captains,' fine 27, p. 72.)
THE LAMENT OF THE BORDER
CATTLE THIEF
Stanza i . The Bar. A term apphed generally to the
sandy wastesbetween the diff^erentriversof the Punjab.
Shalimar. A village near Lahore.
Stanza 2. Jezail. A long, heavy match-lock gun,
usually supported on an iron fork when in use.
Tulwar. A curved sword, the handle of which is
often richly decorated.
Stanza 3. J at. The Jats are a race of farmers
and cattle-breeders living in the Punjab and Baluchis-
tan. As peasants they are very hard-working and
very patient under misfortune. When trained they
make excellent soldiers.
Stanza 8. Lowe. Flame.
Stanza 9. Abazai and Bonair are two mountain
districts of the Punjab about 40 miles apart across the
Swat valley. The Khuttucks are a Pathan tribe allied
to the Afghans in speech and religion but not in blood,
and have often been raided by the Afridi Pathans.
Stanza 1 1 . The Zukka Kheyl is the strongest and
68
AND OTHER VERSES
most turbulent clan of the Afridi Pathans (see note,
'Screw-Guns,' stanza 2, p. 31). They inhabit the
mountains in the vicinity of the Khyber Pass.
Stanza 12. And swing me in the skin. The mere
touch of pig's skin would be considered defilement by
a Mohammedan.
THE RHYME OF THE THREE CAPTAINS
This poem is a contribution to a controversy con-
ducted in the pages of the Athencsum in 1890 as to the
treatment of English authors by American publishers,
Mr. Rudyard Kipling's first contribution to the con-
troversy was a statement in the Athenceum to the
effect that a certain firm of American publishers had
some years before published some of his stories in
book form without asking his permission or paying
him for the right to do so. The firm replied that they
had bought the stories from Mr. Kipling's agent. To
this Mr. Kipling rejoined that they had bought the
serial rights only, not the right to publish in book form.
In this letter he said, 'The real trouble, of course, is
not with this or that particular picaroon across the
water. The high seas of literature are unprotected,
and those who traflfic on them must run their chance
of being plundered. If Messrs had
not taken my stories, some other long or short firm
would have done so. Only, a pretentiously moral
pirate is rather more irritating than the genuine Paul
Jones. The latter at least does not waste your time
69
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
and ink.' A fortnight later a letter appeared in the
AthencBum signed by Walter Besant, William Black,
and Thomas Hardy. Referring to Rudyard Kipling
as ' a certain author,' these well-known novelists said
that they could not judge of his case, but that they
had found the conduct of the firm in question 'just
and liberal' to the foreign author, whose interests
'the American law not only fails to protect, but en-
tirely ignores.' This poem, in which ' the three cap-
tains ' typify the three above-mentioned authors, was
Rudyard Kipling's rejoinder. The real Paul Jones,
formerly a slaver, fought in the American Navy dur-
ing the War of Independence, and harassed British
shipping in English waters. The accusation brought
against him by the British that he was a pirate was
always hotly denied by the Americans.
Line 3. Admiral of the North. The scenes of the
most popular of William Black's novels are laid in
Scotland.
Line 4. Lord of the Wessex coast. Thomas Hardy's
speciality is description of the countryside in 'Wessex'
— Dorsetshire and Wiltshire.
Line 5 . Master of the Thames. Walter Besant was
a great authority on London life and the history of
London, the Fleet Prison, etc. At the time when this
poem was written he was Chairman of the Society of
Authors, a trade-union of writers founded to secure
legal protection for their work. Although he took in
this controversy the side of the publisher against the
70
AND OTHER VERSES
author, no man did more than Besant to obtain just
treatment for authors from EngUsh and American
pubHshers. (See note on line 88, p. 74.)
Line 7. In the sheer. From deck to waterhne.
Line 11. Light she rode. She was hght in the
water because she had been robbed of her cargo.
Line 12. Scuttle-butt. A cask containing drinking
water kept on deck for general use.
Line 15. Laccadives. Islands in the Indian Ocean
formerly infested by Arab pirates.
Line 16. Tack. Alter the course.
Prow and junk. The prow is a distinctive type of
vessel used by Malay seamen, as the junk is the typi-
cal Chinese craft. Piracy was formerly rife in both
Chinese and Malayan waters.
Line 18. Lime-zv ashed Yankee brig. Trans-
Atlantic slave-ships had to be constantly lime-washed
for the sake of disinfection. Slavers usually stuck
to the one evil trade, but as they were fast vessels
manned by blackguard crews they occasionally in-
dulged in piracy when safe opportunity offered.
Line 20. From Sandy Hook to the Nore. Sandy
Hook is the point from which ships outward bound
from New York take their departure. The Nore is
a sandbank at the mouth of the Thames, at the point
where the river broadens into the estuary.
Line 21. Rovers' flag. When the pirates dared
they flew a black or red flag on which a skull and cross
bones in white was depicted.
71
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
Line 22. The. Gridiron — ^the flag of the United
States of America, so called because of the red and
white stripes that it bears. The Jack — the Union
Jack, the national flag of Great Britain.
Line 23. Crimped — pressed. During the Napo-
leonic wars, British ships were liable to be overhauled
by British men-of-war on the high seas and compelled
to surrender a number of their men. Nowadays to
* crimp ' a seaman means to make him drunk or other-
wise temporarily helpless and put him against his will
on board an outward bound vessel.
Line 26. Shaddock. A fruit akin to the grape-
fruit of the West Indies and Florida.
Line 27. Dammer. A kind of resin made from a
pine {Dammara orientalis) that grows in Amboyna
and the Moluccas. It is used for making varnish and
for rendering packages water-tight.
Line 29. Boom. A spar used to extend the foot
of a mainsail. The boom on any vessel is much
smaller than the same vessel's foremast.
Line 30. Yahoo. Contemptible person. The
word was coined by Swift and applied to an imaginary
race of men whose intellect and passions were on a
level with those of the lowest animals.
Shoe-peg oats. A story is current to the effect that
an astute American having manufactured a larger
number of wooden shoe-pegs than he could sell, ran
the unsaleable stock through a machine which ta-
pered their ends and sold the result as oats !
72
AND OTHER VERSES
Line 32. Hulled. Shot him in the hull.
Line 36. Bilgewater. The water that collects in
the bilges, the lowest internal part of a ship's hull. It
is usually foul on account of the rats that have
drowned in it and for other reasons.
Line 42. Spitted his crew on the live bamboo. A
recognised form of torture in China.
Line 43. Mangroves. Trees that grow in foul-
smelling tidal mud in the tropics.
Line 45. Lazar. Leprous, covered with sores
(derived from Lazarus) .
Line 58. Seventy-three. A vessel carrying seventy-
three guns, and thus too formidable to be attacked by
a pirate.
Line 59. A ship of the Line — a battleship.
Line 61. Cocos Keys. Low lying islands off the
north coast of Cuba. The Keys in the Gulf of Mexico
were the favourite haunt of the buccaneers.
Line 70. Chaplain of the Fleet. One of Walter
Besant's novels is so called. Until 1753 many un-
scrupulous parsons, dwelling within the liberties of
the Fleet Prison in order to be beyond the reach of
ordinary law, lived by performing irregular marriages
without banns or licence for whoever was foolish
enough to employ them. They were utterly con-
scienceless, and were ready to degrade any ceremony
of the Church for a few shillings.
Line 74. A jury coat is a makeshift coat ; a Joseph's
coat, besides being a coat of many colours (see Genesis
73
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
xxxvii. 3), is the name given to an overcoat formerly
worn by a woman when riding.
Line 75. Halliards — the cords leading from the
masthead to the deck by which flags are hoisted.
The bunting — the flag, so called from the thin worsted
stufi^ of which flags are made.
Line 78. Lascar crew. All Oriental, and espe-
cially Indian, seamen are called Lascars.
Lines 79-8 1 . ' Mainsail haul ' and ' Foresheetfree '
are two orders given when a ship 'tacks' or is put
about to run on a new course.
Line 85. Pluck — ^heart, liver, and viscera gen-
erally. Mizzen-truck — the top of the aftermost mast.
Line 86. Dipsy-lead. Deep-sea lead, used for
sounding in deep water.
Line 87. Fore-sheet home. The fore-sheet was
free (line 81) when the ship was putting about. Now
that she is sailing on a new tack it is hauled 'home'
and made fast.
Line 88. The bezant is hard, ay, and black. A
punning reference to the names of the three authors —
Besant, Hardy, and Black — whom the poem attacks.
Line 89. The Kling and the Orang-Laut (i. e.
'men of the sea') are fishermen inhabiting the Malay
Archipelago. The latter are described by de Barros
as 'a vile people, living by fishing and robbing.'
Challong, the amphibious man, in 'The Disturber of
TraflSc' {Many Inventions^, was an Orang-Laut.
Line 92. Di-p their flag. Vessels passing each
74
AND OTHER VERSES
other at sea salute by 'dipping' their flag and hauUng
it up again.
THE BALLAD OF THE 'CLAMPHERDOWN'
Stanza i. The bleached Marine. Though a ma-
rine is a soldier enlisted for service at sea, he need not
be unduly ashamed of being sea-sick, as in point of
fact he serves a large part of his time on land.
Stanza 2. Stays. Wire ropes supporting masts
and funnels.
Stanchions. Iron bars built into the ship's deck or
side to support the boat-deck, awnings, etc.
Stanza 3 . A cruiser light. Cruisers are faster and
less heavily armoured than battleships. They are
intended for scouting rather than fighting (see note on
'Cruisers,' p. 199).
Hotchkiss gun. A light quick-firing machine gun.
Stanza 5. Botch. Tinker up.
Make it so. The customary term in which a naval
officer assents to a suggestion from a subordinate.
Stanza 7. The helpless ram. The ram is the
machine that rams the projectile and charge into the
gun. At the date when this poem was written it was
worked by steam, which would fill the turret if the
ram got out of order.
The twisted runners. The runners are the steel
rails on which the gun is turned.
Stanza 8. Thresher. A kind of shark that attacks
and sometimes kills whales.
75
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
Stanza lo. Lie down, lie down, my bold A. B.
A. B. is the recognised term for a man rated as 'able-
bodied seaman.' When a seaman first enters the
navy he is called a 'boy'; he is promoted from that
rank to ordinary seaman, and then to able or able-
bodied seaman. He is told to lie down, as otherwise
the force of the contact when the ships collide will
knock him down. ' Lie down ' is an order that always
accompanies the order 'prepare to ram.'
Stanza 1 1 . Nordenfelt. Quick-firing machine gun.
Stanza 12. We have emptied the bunkers in open
sea. The coal is exhausted because the Clampherdown
has been at sea so long without re-coaling.
Stanza 15. The waist. The middle of the ship.
Stanza 16. Conning tower. The shot-proof pilot-
house of a man-of-war.
THE BALLAD OF THE 'BOLIVAR'
Stanza i. TA^ ^«ic/z^£' i?ofl«^ has now disappeared
from the map of London. It used to run at the back
of St. Katherine's Docks and the London Docks. It
was inhabited principally by seamen and the crimps,
boarding-house keepers and others who lived on sea-
men. Its reputation was a most unsavoury one.
Sign away. A seaman hired for a voyage has to
sign an agreement in the presence of a Board of Trade
official before sailing.
The Bay. The Bay of Biscay.
Stanza 2. Loaded down with rails. Rails are as
76
AND OTHER VERSES
bad a cargo as a ship can carry. It may easily shift
in bad weather, and should it do so, the work of secur-
ing it again is highly dangerous.
The Start. A signal station on the most southerly
point of Devonshire.
Stanza 3 . Smokestack white as snow, i. e. by reason
of encrusted salt left by the spray that has dried there.
All the coal adrift adeck. For economy's sake most
tramp steamers outward bound from England carry
coal enough for both the outward and the homeward
voyage. As there is not room in the bunkers for so
large a supply, the balance is carried on deck. Until
this is used up, it impedes the movements of the crew
even in fine weather.
Stanza 4. Coal and fo'c'le short. Short of coal
and short-handed.
The Wolf. A lighthouse midway between Lizard
Point and the Scilly Islands.
A two-foot list to port. Lying over on her left side.
Stanza 5. Threshed. Steamed against the wind.
Stanza 6. Hog and sag. When a ship 'hogs'
from the strain of the seas, her deck rises amidships
like a hog's back; to sag is the direct opposite. She
tends to hog on the crest of a wave, and to sag in the
hollow between two waves.
Raced. When by pitching badly a steamer lifts
her propeller clear of the water it 'races' furiously.
The vibration thus caused strains every bolt and rivet
in her hull, and strains the engines severely.
77
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
Strake. Side. Technically, a strake is one breadth
of planks or plates forming a continuous strip (or
streak) from stem to stern.
Plummer block. The heavy metal box that keeps
the propeller-shaft in position. If this should work
seriously loose, the driving power of the propeller
would wreck the engines.
Stanza 7. Iron decks are cheaper than wooden
ones, and are commonly found on tramp steamers.
Bilges. (See note in 'Andrew's Hymn,' line 22,
p. 112.)
Stanza 8. The money paid at Lloyd's. The in-
surance premium paid by the ship's owners. The
Bolivar was leaky and was so old that she was not
worth the expense of keeping in repair. Her owners
had therefore sent her to sea with a dangerous cargo
in winter, in the hopes that she would founder and
enable them to collect the sum for which she was
insured. (See 'The "Mary Gloster," ' line 18, p. 167.)
Stanza 9. Took it green. A light wave comes a-
board in the form of white spray; a heavy one, crashing
over the side, has a green colour by reason of the light
shining through it. A wave that is green as it comes
aboard will throw many tons of water on to the deck.
Watched the compass chase its tail. A ship's com-
pass is considerably affected by the ship herself, and
sometimes by her cargo. While the ship is being
built the hammering on her iron plates will make
these to a certain extent magnetic, though the influ-
78
AND OTHER VERSES
ence thus caused tends to decrease as the ship gets
older. The ship's compass is even affected by the
position with regard to the equator in which the ship
was buih. In the case of the Bolivar the pounding of
the seas, causing the ship to vibrate, increases the
magnetism latent in her cargo of rails, and thus makes
the Bolivar s compass practically useless.
Stanza 1 1 . The wheel has gone to hell. The steer-
ing-gear having smashed, it became necessary to rig
yokes on the rudder-head and steer with a tackle
carried to the aft steam-winches, a cumbersome and
difficult process.
Stanza 12. Bilbao. A Spanish port on the south
coast of the Bay of Biscay. It imports rails for the
network of railways of which it is the centre.
Euchred. In the game of euchre a player who,
having had the advantage of declaring what suit shall
be trumps, fails to score, is said to be euchred.
Bluffed. (See note, 'The Three Sealers,' line 54,
p. 127.)
THE SACRIFICE OF ER-HEB
The gods mentioned in this poem have no place in
any particular cult, and the story contained in it is
based on no particular legend : the incidents recorded,
however, are such as might happen among almost any
barbaric people who have attained a certain stage of
mental culture. Human sacrifice is a feature of most
primitive religions. It may have a variety of ob-
79
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
jects. Sometimes a victim is sacrificed merely in
order that he may carry a direct verbal message to
the gods, in which case a slave would suffice. Some-
times he is sacrificed because God, the life-giver,
must be nourished with life lest his power fail and the
crops suffer, in which case the victim would have to
be physically perfect, and would be worshipped as
divine prior to the sacrifice. In this case Bisesa is
sacrificed because Taman, the god above all gods, is
angry at having been neglected and must be propiti-
ated. The victim therefore must be desirable.
' By my wealth and love
And beauty, I am chosen of the God.'
Before her death they 'loosed her hair, as for the
marriage-feast,' to prepare her for her union with the
god, Taman.
She must also be beloved by those who sacrifice her.
She is the daughter of 'the first of all Er-Heb/ and is
also ' plighted to the Chief in War.'
They burned her dower, killed her favourite bull,
and broke her spinning-wheel, as otherwise she could
not have taken these with her to the Other World.
THE GIFT OF THE SEA
The death-bed observances here referred to belong
to Yorkshire and other parts of the North Country.
At the moment of death windows and doors are
80
AND OTHER VERSES
thrown wide open and strict silence is maintained so
that nothing shall hinder the flight of the soul . Before
death neighbours come into the death-chamber to
pray. This observance is called 'The Passing.' The
most famous of the passing songs is a quaintly beauti-
ful hymn, usually called the Lyke-Wake Dirge, one
stanza of which runs:
'If ever thou gavest hosen and shoon,
Every night and alle.
Sit thee down and put them on;
And Christe receive thy saule.'
EVARRA AND HIS GODS
The gods here described have no place in any
special pantheon, but are such as are commonly made
and worshipped by the common folk of India. The
god of 'gold and pearl' might be made by a rich man
after the likeness of the god or goddess to which his
family was specially devoted. Indian peasants often
make idols out of any peculiarly shaped stone, tree, or
root that takes their fancy as suitable for the purpose.
They paint and deck these with leaves, and then
venerate them. It is a general but not universal rule,
that whoever makes an idol makes it more or less
after his own image.
THE CONUNDRUM OF THE WORKSHOPS
Stanza 6. We have learned to bottle our parents
twain in the yelk of an addled egg. See the subject of
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
'blastoderms' in any work on embryology, or 'The
Conversion of Aurelian M'Goggin ' in Plain Tales
from the Hills.
THE LEGENDS OF EVIL
The second of these two poems follows very closely
a Mohammedan legend recorded by John Lockwood
Kipling in Beast and Man in India (chap. iv.). In
consequence of the donkey having introduced the
devil into the ark, though the fault should obviously
be ascribed to Hazat Nuh (Noah), the stubborn ani-
mal's descendants are compelled to bray whenever
they see the Father of Evil. ,
The former poem touches on a common Indian
belief that monkeys could speak if they chose. Hanu-
man, the Hindoo monkey god, is thought by many
scholars to be meant to represent the aboriginal tribes
of southern India.
THE ENGLISH FLAG
On 27th March, 1891, during an important trial of
Irish political agitators, the court-house at Cork
caught fire. Political feeling at the time was at fever-
heat, and the crowds outside the building laughed and
cheered as the building burned, especially when the
flagstaff fell with the Union Jack still flying from it.
The crowd, in the words of the Times correspondent,
'seemed to see significance in the incident.' If so,
they must a few days later have been impressed by
82
AND OTHER VERSES
the fact that, when the ruins were examined, the
flag was found uninjured, though the flagstaff and
haUiards had been destroyed. It had been caught in
falling in an unburnt angle of the wall.
Stanza 3 . Bergen. A Norwegian port of call for
the Dundee whalers.
Disko. An island off the west coast of Green-
land.
The Dogger. A shoal off the coast of Northumber-
land, ranking next to the Newfoundland Banks as a
fishing-ground for cod.
Stanza 5. The musk-ox ranges farther north than
any other land animal except the polar bear.
Stanza 6. The Virgins. A group of islands,
mostly British, in the West Indies.
Sea-egg. The sea-urchin. It may be found at
any depth from between tide-marks downwards.
Sea-eggs are often vivid orange, purple, or blue in
colour.
Stanza 7. Keys. Low islets or shoals. The word
is used almost exclusively in the West Indies, where
it is also spelt 'cays' (from Spanish cayo).
Stanza 9. The sunfish is a deep-sea fish found
in all temperate and tropical seas, and seldom seen
near a coast. In fine weather it comes to the sur-
face and basks, its dorsal fins standing high above
water. The albatross, which breeds at the Crossets
and at Tristan da Cunha, is only seen in the Southern
Ocean.
83
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
Stanza lo. Kuriles. A chain of islands between
Japan and Kamchatka. The name is derived from
the Russian kurit ('to smoke'), on account of the
dense fogs which prevail there.
Praya. A word used in the East for a wharf or
esplanade.
Kowloon. A peninsula on the Chinese mainland
opposite Hong Kong, ceded to Hong Kong in i860.
Stanza 11. Hoogli. The river on which Calcutta
is built. 'The Hoogli once rose and played with men
and ships till the Strand Road was littered with the
raffle and carcasses of big ships' — 'On the Banks of
the Hoogli' {From Sea to Sea).
Stanza 13. The wild ass (kiang and onager) and
the white or snow leopard have their home in the
mountains of Central Asia.
Stanza 15. They bellow one to the other, the frighted
ship-bells toll. During fog steam-driven ships con-
stantly blow their sirens ; sailing ships toll their bells.
CLEARED
In 1887 the Times published a series of letters
which accused C. S. Parnell of being privy to the
murder^ in Phoenix Park, Dublin, of Lord Frederick
Cavendish, Chief Secretary for Ireland, and of
Thomas Burke, the Permanent Under Secretary. The
letters also accused Parnell and other Irish Nationalist
Members of Parliament of inciting men to crime for
political purposes. As an outcome of the libel suits
84
AND OTHER VERSES
that followed, a Commission was appointed in 1888 to
inquire into the charges made by the Times. The
Commission reported that some of the charges, in-
cluding the main one, were false, some true, and
some not proved.
Stanza 3. The surgeon s knife. Cavendish and
Burke were murdered with amputating knives. The
latter had obtained information of an important
political conspiracy that had murder for its ob-
ject. The Commission acquitted Parnell and the
other respondents of insincerity in denouncing the
murders.
Burk — stifle. The word is derived from the name
of a murderer, executed at Edinburgh in 1829, who
smothered many victims in order to sell their corpses
for purposes of dissection.
Stanza 5. Moo«/?gAi^ri- were men who committed
outrages with the object of terrorising those who did
not support their political agitation. The Commis-
sion reported that the charge that the respondents
made payments for the purpose of inciting to crime
was not proved, but that they did pay for the defence
of criminals and for the support of criminals' families,
and compensated men who had been injured while
committing crimes.
Stanza 6. They only said 'intimidate,' and talked
and went away. The Commission reported that the
respondents did not incite to crime but incited to
intimidation, and that the consequence of that in-
85
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
citement was that crime and outrage were committed
by the persons incited.
Stanza 8. They only took the Judas-gold from
Fenians out of jail. The Commission reported that
the respondents did accept subscriptions from a
known advocate of crime and of the use of dynamite,
and also took money from the Clan-na-Gael, an
American-Irish Fenian organisation.
Stanza ii. Tups. Rams.
Stanza i6. Than take a seat in Parliament hy
fellow-felons cheered. Parnell was cheered when he
first took his seat in the House of Commons after the
Report of the Commission.
Stanza 17. You that 'lost' the League accounts.
The Commission inquired into the receipts and pay-
ments of the Land League, a poUtical organisation
with which many of the respondents were concerned.
It was found that over £100,000 of its expenditure
was unaccounted for.
AN IMPERIAL RESCRIPT
On 4th February, 1890, the German Emperor issued
a rescript to 'those Powers that dominate the world's
market,' in which he proposed a conference 'with a
view to coming to an understanding as to the possi-
bility of complying with the wants and wishes of
labourers as manifested by them during recent strikes.*
The project was generally received with sympathy,
though many regarded the rescript as a trick to ap-
86
AND OTHER VERSES
pease the German Social Democratic party and thus
influence impending elections in Germany. The Em-
peror had expressed a hope that means would be
found of forcing the conference's recommendations on
the world at large, but this sanguine hope was aban-
doned even before its first meeting. After sitting for
a fortnight and passing some resolutions as to the
restriction of Sunday labour and the employment of
women and children, the conference dissolved.
TOMLINSON
Line 22. A Prince in Muscovy. Leo Tolstoy passed
through many phases of religious thought and finally
evolved a religion of his own, which he sought to prop-
agate by means of his books and by his manner of life.
Line 30. A carl in Norroway. Henrik Ibsen was
remarkable for his candid and clear delineation of
human society and his power of showing the soul at
war with circumstance. Tolstoy declared that he
wrote books for the healing of nations. Ibsen, on the
other hand, diagnosed the moral diseases that affect
society without suggesting any remedy.
Line 49. O'er-sib. Too closely related.
Line 74. And this I ha got from a Belgian book
on the word of a dead French lord. The Marquis de
Sade, a writer of licentious novels of a peculiarly offen-
sive type.
Line 85. Empusa, in Greek mythology, was a
goblin in the service of Hecate, Queen of Hell.
87
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
THE LONG TRAIL
(L'ENVOI)
Stanza 2. The Tents of Shem. Noah blessed Jap-
heth (from whom, according to the old school of
ethnologists, the European races are descended) by
promising that he should 'dwell in the tents of Shem'
and have Canaan (the reputed ancestor of the negro
races) for his servant. See Genesis ix. 27.
Stanza 3. The Golden Gate. The entrance to San
Francisco harbour.
Bluffs. (See note, ' Rhyme of the Three Sealers,'
line 54, p. 127.)
Stanza 4. A beam-sea is a swell parallel to a ship's
course. Such a swell causes a ship to roll. She will
pitch when the course of the swell is at right angles to
her own course.
A tramp steamer is a cargo steamer that, unlike a
liner, is not confined to a trade between a definite
series of ports, but tramps the sea picking up a cargo
wherever she can.
With her load-line over her hatch. The load-line is
the PlimsoU mark, a line on a ship's side to mark the
depth to which her proper cargo causes her to sink.
A ship's hatch, the opening to her hold, is above the
level of the deck. As the load-line is normally at or
just above the water-line, a roll that brings it above
the level of the hatch would occur only in a very
heavy sea.
88
AND OTHER VERSES
Dago. The seaman recognises three classes of races
apart from British and American — Dutchmen, Da-
goes, and niggers. All Teutonic and Slavonic races
are lumped together as Dutchmen or 'square-heads.'
Frenchmen, Spaniards, Italians, and all Levantines
are Dagoes. The remainder of the races of the world
are classed as niggers. Dago is a corruption of the
common Spanish and Portuguese name 'Diego.'
Stanza 5.
There be triple ways to take, of the eagle or the
snake.
Or the way of a man with a maid.
Cf. Proverbs xxx. 18 and 19: 'There be three things
which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I
know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the
way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in
the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a
maid.'
The North-east Trade. The wind that blows regu-
larly from 35° north of the equator to 3°N. South of
the equator the direction of the trade wind is south-
east.
Racing screw. (See note, ' Ballad of the " Bolivar", '
stanza 6, p. 77.)
Ships it green. (See note, ' Ballad of the " Bolivar", '
stanza 9, p. 78.)
'Scends. Drops down the slope of a wave that has
passed.
Stanza 6. This starlza describes the last moments
89
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
at the wharf side of a vessel that is on the point of
departure. The Blue Peter, a blue flag with a white
square in the centre, is hoisted at the foremast head to
notify all concerned that the ship is about to sail.
The funnels quiver with the pressure of the as-yet-
unused steam that from time to time must be let off
through the safety-valve. The last crates of cargo
are taken on board. Then the gang-planks by which
passengers have come aboard are hoisted up and in.
The ship is warped through the dock gates. The
second mate, at the stern, signals 'all clear aft,' i. e.
that all hawsers have been cast off and the last con-
nection with the land has been severed.
Fenders. Bundles of rope or baulks of timber sus-
pended from the ship's rails to protect her side from
contact with the wharf.
Derricks. Spars that serve the purpose of cranes
to lift cargo from the wharf and lower it into the
ship's hold.
Tackle. The rope suspended from a pulley at the
head of the derrick. It has a hook at the lower end to
catch the slings in which the crates are placed.
The fall rope. The other end of the rope" which
passes from the pulley to the winch which supplies the
hoisting power.
Sheave. The wheel of the pulley over which the
fall rope runs.
Hawsers. Heavy rope cables.
Warp. Move a vessel by hauling on ropes or
90
AND OTHER VERSES
hawsers attached to some fixed object, such as a buoy,
an anchor, or a bollard on a wharf.
Stanza 7. In this stanza, after being delayed by
river-fog, during which the pilot has to feel his way by
having a man in the chains to take soundings with the
lead, the ship passes out of the Thames. The Lower
Hope is just below Gravesend and Tilbury. It is the
last reach through which an outward bound vessel will
pass, for below it the river broadens out into the
Thames estuary. As soon as the Lower Hope is
passed the Gunfleet Sands, which skirt the Essex coast
to the north-east, come into view, and the Mouse, a
lightship almost in mid-stream, is right ahead. The
ship passes this, rounds the North Foreland, and
comes into view of the Gull Light, which is between
the Goodwin Sands and the coast of Kent.
Sirens. A ship's steam whistle is ironically called
a siren, because the noise it makes is exceedingly un-
musical. It is blown constantly during a fog. Near
a harbour mouth, in foggy weather, sirens may be
heard in all directions.
Lead. A weight attached to a line marked off into
fathoms with pieces of leather, rag, and twine. The
lead is dropped overboard by a seaman, who ascer-
tains the depth by seeing how much line he must pay
out to allow the lead to reach bottom, and calls out the
result to the pilot. The ship goes at her slowest speed
when it is necessary to take soundings. The working
of the 'dipsy' {i. e. deep-sea) lead is more elaborate.
91
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
Stanza 8. The scared whale flukes in flame. Under
certain conditions the sea gleams with myriad sparks
of phosphorous wherever it is disturbed, such as where
the wave rises from the ship's bows, in the white water
churned up by the propeller, in the wake of the por-
poises that play about the ship's bows, or in the splash
made by a whale when in diving it throws its 'flukes'
— the whaler's name for its tail — into the air.
Taut with the dew. The effect of moisture on ropes
is to tighten them. Dew is always heavier at sea than
on land, and in the tropics heavier than in the tem-
perate regions.
Stanza 8. Comb — break. Acomberis awavethat
breaks not on a shoal or rock but by its own weight in
deep water.
Stanza 9. The Foreland — a point on the coast of
Kent. The Start — a point on the south coast of
Devonshire. From the Foreland to the Start is prac-
tically the whole length of the English Channel,
92
The Seven Seas
TO THE CITY OF BOMBAY
Stanza 8. 'Mother of cities to me.' Rudyard
Kipling was born in the city of Bombay, where his
father, John Lockwood Kiphng, the illustrator of Kim
and The Second Jungle Book, was in charge of the Art
School. When Rudyard Kipling was ten years old
his father was appointed curator of the museum at
Lahore, the museum visited by the Tibetan lama in
the first chapter of Kim.
Stanza lo. Touch and remit. Homage is paid by
native princes in India by the offer of gold mohurs,
which the Viceroyor his representative merely touches
as a sign that he accepts the spirit of the tribute.
A SONG OF THE ENGLISH
Stanza l. Fair is our lot — goodly is our heritage!
Cf. Psalm xvi. 7 (Prayer Book version) : 'The lot is
fallen unto me in a fair ground : yea, I have a goodly
heritage.'
THE COASTWISE LIGHTS
Stanza i. Spindrift. Spray blown from the crests
of waves.
93
THE SEVEN SEAS
Skerry. A rock scarcely large enough to be called
an island.
Voe. An inlet or creek, a term used in the Shet-
lands.
Stanza 2. Siren. (See note, 'The Three-Decker/
stanza 8, p. 165.)
By day the dipping house-flag and by night the
rocket's trail. Vessels, not fitted with wireless teleg-
raphy, who wish their owners to know their position
signal to some lighthouse that is in telegraphic com-
munication with the shore; in the day-time by showing
their house-flag, the recognised flag of their owners,
and at night-time by coloured rockets.
Stanza 4. Clippers (see note, 'The Mary Gloster,'
line 31, p. 168). A clipper under full sail is one of the
most beautiful sights at sea, and a cargo-tank, or vessel
in the design of which the utmost possible cargo
capacity was made the first consideration, is one of
the least beautiful.
THE SONG OF THE DEAD
PRELUDE
Hide-stripped sledges. When all better food is ex-
hausted, hide or leather, shredded and soaked, can
be eaten as a last resource.
The warrigal. The Australian dingo or wild dog.
Sere river-courses. Rivers in the Australian in-
terior run only after heavy rain. For the greater
part of the year they are nothing better than chains
94
THE SEVEN SEAS
of stagnant ponds, some of which are far apart, and
between these their beds are as dusty and dry as a
parade-ground.
Kloof. African-Dutch for a deep rocky ravine.
The Barrens. The vast tracks of land in the north
of Canada where no timber will grow. They are
ranged by herds of caribou (reindeer) and musk-
ox.
Wolverine. An animal of the weasel kind; the
American glutton or carcajou, found in Arctic Canada.
It is exceptionally bold and exceptionally cunning.
It robs traps of the animals snared in them, and robs
the caches, or stores of food made by hunters. It will
steal things that are of no possible use to it, and has
been known to rob a hut of blankets, kettles, axes,
and knives.
On the sand-drift — on the veldt-side — in the fern
scrub. Sand-drifts are a feature of the Australian
deserts. South African plains are called veldt. The
fern scrub is found in New Zealand.
When Drake went down to the Horn. On his famous
voyage round the world Drake sailed through Ma-
gellan Straits, but strong winds afterwards blew him
southwards as far as Cape Horn. His discovery of
this cape was of immense political importance. If
the Magellan Straits had been the only gate to the
Pacific, Spain might have held it for long against all
95
THE SEVEN SEAS
comers, but she could not hold the open sea that
Drake found beyond the Horn. Drake's voyage was
far more than a mere privateering expedition, more
even than a voyage of exploration. It was England's
refutation of Spain's claim to exclusive rights in the
Pacific, and an assertion that wherever an EngHsh
keel could float was English water.
II
Sheering gull. The flight of a sea-gull is very curi-
ous. It flies for the most part in broad circles, but
every now and again suddenly swerves or 'sheers off'
to one side.
The Ducies. One of the uttermost outposts of the
British Empire. They form part of the Paumotu
Archipelago in the South Pacific, and lie about mid-
way between New Zealand and South America.
The Swin. The Channel by which ships outward
bound from London reach the North Sea.
Golden Hind. The lOO-ton galleon, first named the
Pelican, that served as flagship of the fleet with which
Drake embarked on his voyage round the world,
and the only one of his five ships that completed the
voyage.
THE DEEP-SEA CABLES
The wrecks dissolve above us. Ships that founder
in very deep water are said never to reach the bottom
of the sea, because the water at great depths, owing
to the weight above it, has a density greater than
96
THE SEVEN SEAS
that of the materials of which ships are made. They
hang midway between the surface and the uttermost
deeps.
THE SONG OF THE SONS
From the whine of a dying man, from the snarl of a
wolf -pack freed.
Turn and the world is thine.
The reference is to the Irish party and to the wan-
ing political influence of the late W. E. Gladstone.
THE SONG OF THE CITIES
Bombay. Royal and Dower Royal. The town of
Bombay was founded by a king. It passed into
British hands as part of the dowry of the In-
fanta Catherine of Portugal on her marriage to
Charles ii.
Calcutta. The sea-captain. Calcutta was founded
in 1686 by Job Charnock, a merchant seaman who
became an 'agent' in the service of the East India
Company. The town was sacked by Suraj-ud-
Dowlah in 1756 and held by him until recaptured by
Clive six months later. It is built on silt thrown up
by the river Hoogli, and thus typifies foreign dominion
in Asia — power on an insecure foundation. The site
of Calcutta was chosen by Charnock for its military
and commercial rather than its sanitary advantages.
(For a vivid description of the lack of these see 'The
City of Dreadful Night' in From Sea to Sea.) The
Nilghai quotes a song about Charnock in chapter viii.
97
THE SEVEN SEAS
of The Light that Failed. The author of the song is
unknown.
Rangoon. Shwe Dagon. (See note, 'Buddha at
Kamakura,' stanza 8, p. 226).
Hong Kong. Praya. Wharf. The allusion is
to the typhoons that occasionally sweep the harbour.
Halifax. Natural advantages and extensive forti-
fications combine to make Halifax, which has never
been attacked, one of the strongest positions in the
British Empire.
Quebec and Montreal. A whisper rose. The ref-
erence is to the trouble between the United States
and England that arose out of the dispute as to the
boundary between Venezuela and British Guiana.
Cape Town was founded by the Dutch in 1652,
captured by the British in 1795, handed over to the
Batavian Government in 1803, recaptured by the
British in 1806, and finally ceded outright to the
British by Holland in 18 14. The Lion's Head, a spur,
over 2000 feet high, of Table Mountain, overhangs
the town. British dominion extends from Cape Town
northwards to Tanganyika. Had not the territory
north of Tanganyika, which was ceded by the Congo
State to Britain, been abandoned to Germany in
1890, British dominion would now extend without a
break from Cape Town to Cairo.
Brisbane. Stirp — family. Suffer a little. A large
part of Brisbane was destroyed by floods in 1893.
The whole of Queensland at that time, and for
98
THE SEVEN SEAS
years afterwards, suffered from acute financial de-
pression.
HoBART. Man's love first found me; man's hate made
me Hell. The legend is that Abel Tasman, who dis-
covered Hobart, had undertaken his voyage for love of
the daughter of Anthony Van Dieman, governor of
Batavia, It was first used as a penal settlement for
the most unmanageable of the convicts from Sydney.
ENGLAND'S ANSWER
Draw now the threefold knot firm on the ninefold
bands. The threefold knot is the Union of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, typified by the rose, thistle,
and shamrock in the Royal Arms. The ninefold
bands are (i) Canada, (2) Australia, (3) South Africa,
(4) New Zealand, (5) India, (6) the West Indies, (7)
Newfoundland, (8) the Tropical Dependencies in the
East, and (9) the South Sea Islands.
This for the waxen Heath, and that for the Wattle-
bloom,
This for the Maple-leaf, and that for the southern
Broom.
The heath, the wattle, the maple, and the broom are
characteristic of South Africa, Australia, Canada, and
New Zealand respectively.
THE FIRST CHANTEY
A Chantey is a song sung by sailors while at heavy
work so that they may haul in unison. Most chanties
99
THE SEVEN SEAS
have been handed down by several generations of
seamen, but few have been put into print, partly per-
haps because they are generally crudely constructed,
but principally because most of them are grossly
indecent. In chapter viii. of The Light that Failed,
the 'Nilghai' sings part of one of the respectable ones,
a chantey that was popular in the Royal Navy in
Nelson's time, and offers to sing one of the other kind.
Some others are recorded in Captains Courageous.
Most of the chanties have a boisterous and some-
times meaningless chorus. The song 'Frankie's
Trade,' in Rewards and Fairies, is in the true Chantey
s'tyle. (See also note on the chorus of 'The Mer-
chantmen,' p. 103.)
Stanza i. In the dawn of the world's history a
man customarily obtained a wife by capturing her
from a neighbouring clan, if we can judge by customs
recently surviving among the Australian blacks, the
Masai, the Dog-rib Indians, and other primitive
peoples.
Stanza 3. So far as it is possible to judge, the
history of the evolution of the boat has been as follows.
First, the floating log giving support to the swimmer,
then the canoe hollowed out of a single log, then the
dug-out canoe with its sides raised by the addition
of a long plank to break the force of the waves and
partially prevent their coming aboard, until the
boat built of planks strake above strake was per-
fected.
100
THE SEVEN SEAS
Stanza 7. In Lectures on the Early History of the
Kingship, Prof. J. G. Eraser has authoritatively shown
how among primitive peoples men credited with su-
pernatural powers tend not only to become kingly
priests but are often regarded as divine.
THE LAST CHANTEY
For meaning of Chantey see note, 'The First
Chantey,' p. 99.
Rev. xxi. I : 'And I saw a new heaven and a new
earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away; and there was no more sea.'
Stanza 2. Barracoot'. The Barracuda is a vora-
cious perch-like fish in the West Indian seas that
attains a length of ten feet.
Stanza 6. Picaroon. It has been suggested that
in using this word, Rudyard Kipling departed from
his usual accuracy, and confused the words 'picaroon'
and 'barracoon.' The latter means a shed in which
slaves were imprisoned until they could be taken on
board the slave ships. However, as picaroon means
a pirate, and has been extended in colloquial lan-
guage to mean pirate-ship or any ship engaged in an
allied trade, the use of the word here is perfectly jus-
tifiable.
Stanza 7. Once we frapped a ship. To frap a
ship is to pass turns of a cable round the middle
of her hull in order to keep her from breaking asunder
under the weight of the seas. H. M. S. Albion
lOI
THE SEVEN SEAS
was frapped after the battle of Navarino. Sir Pat-
rick Spens, an old Scots ballad, describes the frapping
of a ship :
'They fetch'd a web o'the silken claith,
Another o' the twine,
And they wrapp'd them round that gude ship's side,
But still the sea came in.'
Acts xxvii. contains the account of the frapping of the
ship in which St. Paul was wrecked.
Stanza 9. The gentlemen-adventurers . The Com-
panies of Gentlemen Adventurers of the Tudor period
were the forerunners of the great chartered compa-
nies, such as the Honourable East India Company, the
Hudson Bay Company and others, which made the
British Empire. Their original quarrel with Spain
arose from their vigorous refusal to recognise Spain's
right to a monopoly of trade in the New World.
Thus when Hawkins, representing a syndicate of
London merchants, first took a cargo of slaves to the
West Indies, he was debarred from trading by a pro-
hibitive customs duty, until, by landing a hundred
armed men, he persuaded the authorities to reduce
the tariff. The Spanish Government revenged itself
by confiscating two of his ships that fell into its power.
Thereafter English trading ventures to America
became practically piratical expeditions, and conse-
quently the few English seamen that fell into the
hands of the Spaniards were sent to the Inquisition
or the galleys. The dealings of the English with the
102
THE SEVEN SEAS
Spaniards were red enough, but the former would
have hotly denied iniquity.
Stanza lo. A gray Gothavn 'speckshioner. Got-
havn is the seat of the government of Northern
Greenland. The highest official there is an inspector,
who, besides fulfilling magisterial duties, regulates the
whaling industry. Dundee is the port from which
most British whaling vessels sail.
Flenching. The cutting up of a whale's blubber.
Ice-blink. A peculiar shimmer in the air reflected
from distant ice.
Bowhead. The Greenland whale. Its home is
among floes and on the borders of the ice-fields, and
has never been found south of the limits of winter-ice.
Stanza ii. The windless, glassy floor. Cf. Rev.
iv. 6: 'And before the throne there was a sea of glass
like unto crystal.'
Stanza 13. Spindrift. Spray blown from the
crests of waves.
Fulmar. The moUy-mawk, the North Atlantic
species of the petrel. It boldly accompanies whalers
and seal-fishers for the sake of what offal it can get.
THE MERCHANTMEN
Stanza l. King Solomon drew merchantmen. Cf.
I Kings X. 22: 'For the king had at sea a navy of
Tharshish with the navy of Hiram : once in three years
came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver,
ivory, and apes, and peacocks'; and i Kings v. 8, 9:
103
THE SEVEN SEAS
'And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, ... I will
do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar. . . .
My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon
unto the sea : and I will convey them by sea in floats
unto the place that thou shalt appoint.'
Chorus. Flaw. Sudden unreliable gust of wind
coming from an unexpected quarter. The trade wind
is regular both in force and direction.
Lay your board and tack again. A vessel beating
against the wind advances on a zig-zag course at
rather less than a right angle to the direction of the
wind. When she has sailed as far as is expedient in
the one direction, she 'tacks' or goes about and sails
away at an acute angle to her previous course. Her
' board ' is the stretch she makes on one tack.
Paddy Doyle. A reference to a well-known chantey.
In hoisting a sail the work becomes heavier as it pro-
gresses, and the pulls which the seamen give neces-
sarily shorter. At the last, when they are finally
' sweating-up,' they can give only short pulls. For
these, special chanteys have been adopted. One of
these is as follows : —
i^
^
-j=iz
S
i
To my way
1-
y - ay
^
H::
h 1 r-
^^
ah! We'll pay Pad - dy Doyle for his boots.
104
THE SEVEN SEAS
Mr. W. B. Whall, Master Mariner, who has pre-
served this in his valuable little book, Ships, Sea
Songs and Shanties (Brown & Son, Glasgow), says
that he never heard this particular one used except for
bunting up a sail in furling. Who the original Paddy
Doyle was is not recorded ; probably a seaman's out-
fitter, who allowed some seaman to have a pair of sea-
boots on credit. Such an event would be sufficiently
rare to be worth chronicling. Usually an outward-
bound seaman pays for his kit with an 'advance note'
that no one but the outfitter will cash, and the out-
fitter takes good care not to lose on the bargain!
Stanza 3. And light the rolling homeward bound.
The pretence that the victim was robbed in her own
interest because she was dangerously low in the water,
is typical of the humour of Elizabethan buccaneers.
In the contemporary narrative of Drake's voyage
round the world, it is recorded that a party from the
Golden Hind, landing on the coast of Chili for water,
met a Spaniard driving a train of eight llamas, each
carrying a hundred pounds of silver. 'We could not
endure,' says the chronicler, 'to see a gentleman
Spaniard turned carrier so, and therefore, without
entreaty, we offered our services and became drovers :
only his directions were not so perfect that we could
keep the way he intended; for almost as soon as he
had parted from us we were come to our boats.'
Stanza 4. Walty. Cranky, tottering like a sprung
spar.
THE SEVEN SEAS
Kentledge. Pig-iron used as permanent ballast
laid on the kelson plates and fitted between frames.
Kelson. A piece of timber in wooden ships (or in
iron vessels a bar or a combination of iron plates)
placed on the floor of a ship's interior and parallel
with the keel, to which it is bolted.
Slings. The tackle that holds the yard to the mast.
Galley. Cook-house, in a sailing ship usually a
small wooden house standing on the deck.
Boom. A long spar used to extend the foot of the
aftermost sail or 'spanker' over the stern.
Mossel Bay. In Cape Colony.
Stanza 5. Texel. An island to the north of
Holland. The sea here is shallow, and the swell very
awkward and choppy.
Awash with sodden deals. Ships outward bound
from Baltic ports often carry cargoes of deal planks.
As these are very light, to get a load the timber-ships
not only fill their holds but stack planks on their
decks to a height of ten or twelve feet. In heavy
weather the seas that come aboard will almost float
these and set them moving in spite of the stout cables
with which they are lashed to the body of the ship.
There is then great danger of the deck-load becoming
unmanageable. Should it shift a few inches the load
becomes heavier by many tons on the side towards
which it has shifted. It is no uncommon thing for a
timber-laden ship to stagger into port with her scup-
pers on one side level with the water.
106
THE SEVEN SEAS
Norther. (See note, 'The Explorer,' stanza 5, p.
211.)
Ratched. Beat against the wind.
Crossets. An uninhabited group of islands, far
south in the Indian Ocean. They lie near the course
of sailing-vessels outward bound to New Zealand.
Agulhas Roll. All along the coast of South Africa,
from Cape Agulhas eastward, a heavy swell comes in
from the Southern Ocean. The suddenness with
which it rises before a gale is the chief danger of
that coast (see note 'The Native Born,' stanza 8,
p. I2l).
Stanza 7. Fane and Truck. The truck is the
topmost part of the mast, and the vane is the weather-
cock attached to it.
The Dutchman. The legend of the Flying Dutch-
man is that a Dutch navigator named Vanderdecken
beat about the Cape of Good Hope for nine weeks
without being able to round it (cf. Marryatt's ' Flying
Dutchman' in his The Phantom Ship). He blas-
phemously swore on a relic of the True Cross that he
would beat to the Day of Judgment rather than give
in. Ever since, his vessel has been doomed to haunt
the Southern Ocean. She may be recognised by the
fact that she always sails, with all sail spread, dead
against the wind — an impossible feat for a natural
ship. Vessels that sight her meet with disaster, and
those rash enough to speak with her are never heard
of again.
107
THE SEVEN SEAS
Stanza 8. Bunt. The middle part of a square sail
which when furled is tossed up on to the centre of the
yard.
Gasket. The cord with which the square sail when
furled is lashed to the yard.
The Isle of Ghosts is peopled by the spirits of men
whom pirates murdered and buried with their treasure
in order that their ghosts might guard it from looters.
When ships pass the island the restless spirits, hoping
to be carried to their own homes, board the ship and
help to, work it, but their doom always drags them
back to the treasure they were set to guard.
M'ANDREW'S HYMN
A young marine engineer, known to a friend of the
writer of these notes, once asked if Rudyard Kipling
ever delivered lectures on marine engineering sub-
jects, as he proposed, if that were the case, to miss a
voyage in order to take advantage of them. It tran-
spired that he knew nothing of Kipling's fame as an
author but had read The Day's Work, three of the
stories in which, 'The Ship that Found Herself,'
'Bread upon the Waters,' and ''ooy,' show the author's
intimate and accurate acquaintance with the struc-
ture both of a ship and a railway engine, and he had
formed the opinion that Kipling must be a Professor
of Engineering and that his lectures would be worth
attending, ^^his testimony to the extraordinary
range and accuracy of Kipling's knowledge of engi-
io8
THE SEVEN SEAS
neering subjects is endorsed by all qualified to give
an opinion. No attempt will be made in the notes
on this poem to explain the meaning of such technical
words as ' crosshead-gibs ' or 'follower-bolts.' Such
explanation would serve no useful purpose, for they
could not be made intelligible, even with the aid of
diagrams, to those unacquainted with a ship's engine-
room, whereas those familiar with marine engines will
not need them. It should be said, however, that
wherever he has chosen onomatopoetic words to suit
the sound made by the various parts of the engines,
such as 'The crank-throws give the double-bass, the
feed-pump sobs and heaves,' 'My purrin' dynamos,'
etc. — Mr. Kipling shows the same uncanny accuracy
that he displays in all his works, whether they be of
steam engines, Hindoo customs, sailing ships, or the
habits of seals. To appreciate the poem thoroughly,
it should be read in a ship's engine-room when the
engines are doing their work and under the guidance
of an engineer who knows them well and has the gift
of intelligibly explaining their different functions.
The idea of the poem originated in a personal experi-
ence of the author's. When it was first published in
Scribner's Magazine for December, 1894, it was pref-
aced by an extract from a private letter: —
'And the night we got in, sat up from twelve to four
with the chief engineer, who could not get to sleep
either . . . said that the engines made him feel
quite poetical at times, and told me things about his
109
THE SEVEN SEAS
past life. He seems a pious old bird ; but I wish I had
known him earlier in the voyage.'
Line 4. Predestination. The doctrine that God
has from all eternity unalterably fixed whatever is to
happen. It was taught (though not originated) by
Calvin.
Line 6. My ' Institutio.' M' Andrew means that
he has learned his faith from his engines. He borrows
the word from the title of the work {Christianae Re-
ligionis Institutio) in which Calvin expounded his
doctrines. M 'Andrew amplifies his meaning in the
lines (153 to 167) where he speaks of the 'orchestra
sublime/ in which each component part of his engines
at its appointed time and in its appointed order does
its appointed work; in which all the parts are depen-
dent on all the others and perform a task that has been
'foreseen, ordained, decreed,' thus teaching the lesson
of 'Law, Order, Duty and Restraint, Obedience,
Discipline.'
Line 9. Race. Inbad weather the pitching of the
shipwill occasionally lift the propeller partly orwhoUy
out of the water. Being freed from the resistance
of the heavier element, it will then 'race' at greatly
increased speed, jarring the whole ship and the en-
gines in particular.
Line 13. A full-draught breeze. A steamer's en-
gines are affected by the direction and force of the
wind, as a fresh current of air in the stoke-hole enables
the furnaces to burn freely.
no
THE SEVEN SEAS-
Ushant out of sight. Well into the English Channel,
the southern side of the entrance to which is marked
by the Ushant light.
Line 15. Seventy— One — Two — Three. Ferguson,
the engineer, on coming on watch, has increased the
speed of the engines from seventy to seventy-three
revolutions of the crank-shaft per minute.
Line 18. Elsie Campbell. It is the Scotch custom
to refer to a dead woman by her maiden name — e. g.
'Mary Moffat, wife of David Livingstone,' is carved
on Mrs. Livingstone's tomb.
Line 19. The Year the 'Sarah Sands' was burned.
In 1857 the Sarah Sands was on her way to India with
troops. She took fire 1000 miles from land. She
carried a large quantity of powder, which volunteers
attempted to get out of the magazine while the rest of
those on board took to the boats. At the last possible
moment those in the powder magazine abandoned
their task and joined the others in the boats. An
explosion soon afterwards took place, and although
her afterdeck and a great part of her side were blown
out, the Sarah Sands did not founder. Those in the
boats boarded her again and eventually succeeded
in extinguishing the fire. Then on very short rations,
and in a badly crippled condition, the Sarah Sands
was worked to port.
An account of the disaster was contributed by
Rudyard Kipling to the 1898 Christmas number of
Black and White.
Ill
THE SEVEN SEAS
Line 20. Maryhill, Pollokshaws, Govan, and Park-
head are all on the outskirts of Glasgow.
Line 22. How's your bilge to-day? The bilges of a
ship are the parts between the 'floors' (or frames at
the bottom of a ship, where they are made deep and
strong to support her weight when docked). Sir
Kenneth probably meant 'How is your bilge-water?'
In his anxiety to bring his conversation down to the
level of M 'Andrew's intelligence, he has misused an
expression that itself is more often found in popular
fiction than heard at sea.
Line 24: The auld Fleet Engineer. The chief of
all the engineers employed in the company's ships.
Line 27. Ten pound was all the pressure then. A
pressure on the boilers of ten pounds per square inch.
An idea of the improvement of marine engines during
M'Andrew's day may be gathered from the fact that
whereas, when he was a ' boiler-whelp,' it needed from
seven to nine pounds of coal on the grate to obtain a
horse-power hour of work, at the present day a cargo
ship (built for economy rather than speed) can carry a
ton freight a mile on the heat developed by half an
ounce of coal on the grate.
Line 48. Jane Harrigans an' Number Nine, The
Reddick an' Grant Road. The places here referred to
are well known, either from personal experience or by
repute, to most seamen, but are not mentioned in any
respectable guide-book. Number Nine, despite its
English name, is in a Japanese port. A vivid and
112
THE SEVEN SEAS
painful description of Gay Street in Hong Kong is
given in From Sea to Sea.
Line 58. The Chief. Though the first mate of
a ship is often called the 'Chief Officer' especially on
passenger vessels, the simple title 'the Chief' is always
reserved for the chief engineer.
Line 59. Sumbawa Head is in the Malay Archi-
pelago. It appears later in the poem that M 'Andrew,
at the time of which he is speaking, was on a ship
whose run lay along the coasts of Sumatra and Java,
and through the East Indian islands to Queensland,
passing Deli, Sumbawa, and Torres Straits, and skirt-
ing the Barrier Reef. Nowhere is the beauty of the
Tropics greater than on this run. Islands clothed
with palms and dense vivid green scrub are in sight
for days together. The air is soft and warm, but not
too warm, and even the water in the morning-bath
has somewhat of the 'spicy, garlic smell' of the East.
Line 65 . Broomielaw is part of the Port of Glasgow,
a neighbourhood as different from Sumbawa as any
place on earth.
Line 66. Fetich. Idol.
Line 75. The sin against the Holy Ghost? See
Matthew xii. 24 to 32.
Line 78. Third on the 'Mary Gloster.' The Mary
Gloster's third engineer.
Line 82. We dared not run that sea by night. As
the Barrier Reef is over a thousand miles long, the
work of surveying and charting it occupied many
"3
THE SEVEN SEAS
years. The dangers of this part of the Queensland
coast were exempUfied by the wreck of the Quetta, a
British India steamer, on an uncharted rock right
in her usual course.
Line 83 . The hatch is the covering of the opening
in the deck through which cargo is lowered to the hold.
It is a favourite place on which to lie in warm weather,
partly because being covered with tarpaulin it is softer
than the deck, and partly because any one lying there
is out of the way of those who need to pass forward or
aft.
Line 84. * Better the sight of eyes that see than wan-
derin 0' desire!' Cf. Ecclesiastes vi. 9: 'Better is the
sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire.'
Lines 99-105. In 'The Mary Gloster' M'Andrew
is referred to as 'chief of the Maori Line.' The ships
of both the lines that serve NewZealand from England
(the New Zealand Shipping Company and the Shaw
Savill and Albion Company) go outward round the
Cape and homeward round the Horn. Their course
for a large part of the voyage lies along little-fre-
quented sea-lanes. Usually the ships of both lines
make Hobart a point of call between Cape Town and
Wellington, and thus traverse a sea-highway part of
which is used by two other lines (the Lund's Blue
Anchor Line and Rennie's Aberdeen White Star Line),
but the route between Cape Town and Wellington
lies far to the south of most traffic routes — it lies, in
fact, as close to the Antarctic ice as the captain cares
114
THE SEVEN SEAS
to go. The best chance for any ship disabled on this
route — and that would be very slender — would be
to 'speak' (i. e. sight and get into signalling communi-
cation with) a whaling ship.
The shaft of a steamer which connects the propeller
with the engines is its most vital part. Practically
any other part of the engines could be mended or
replaced from spare parts carried on board, but the
welding of so huge a piece of steel as a propeller-shaft
requires appliances too big to find a place in a ship's
workshop. A case is on record of a ship's propeller-
shaft being mended at sea by her own crew, but the
feat was an exceptional one. The jiggers or small
sails carried by modern passenger steamers serve
little purpose except to steady the ship in rough
weather. Of so little value are they that their use is
gradually being discarded. A ship that depended
only on such sails would scarcely move through the
water at all. An accident to a steamer's shaft forms
the subject of the story 'Bread upon the Waters'
{The Day's Work).
Line 103. Steamin to bell for fourteen days 0'
snow an' floe an blow. The sea being thick with
floating ice, M 'Andrew would be standing by his
engines all the time to slow, back, or stop as ordered
by bell from the bridge. Steaming to bell is a nerve-
racking performance for all hands.
Line 104. Kelpies. Water sprites.
Girn. Snarl.
"5
THE SEVEN SEAS
Line io6. Hail, Snow an' Ice that praise the Lord.
Cf. the passage in the Benedicite, 'O ye Ice and Snow,
bless ye the Lord: praise Him and magnify Him for
ever.'
Line 112. The tender. The small vessel that
takes passengers and mails from steamers that have
reached harbour but are not to lie alongside a wharf.
Line 119. A snifter-rod 'ross.' The French for
both nightingale and snifter-rod is rossignol. Prob-
ably M 'Andrew stopped short at 'ross-' from doubts
how to pronounce the rest of the word.
Line 121. To lie like stewards wi' patty pans. At
the end of a voyage the chief steward will replace
whatever material in his department has been lost,
broken, or worn out. Very often he has an arrange-
ment with the supplier of these articles by which he
gives a written order for more than he needs, and tells
the supplier verbally how much he must actually sell
him. The supplier and the steward will then share
the difference between the actual cost of the goods
supplied and the cost as shown in the steward's
written order.
Line 124. Clink the fire-hars. Clog the fire-bars
with 'clinkers' or unburnable refuse from the patent-
fuel-bricks.
Line 125. Wangarti. Coal from Wangarti in New
South Wales, which would be bought in Wellington
for the homeward run.
Line 143. Spar-decked yachting-cap. The peaked
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THE SEVEN SEAS
flat cap that is worn as part of a ship's officer's uniform,
and therefore adopted by those who, not being profes-
sional seamen, hke to appear nautical.
Line 147. Manholin. Creeping through man-
holes which are only just large enough to be squeezed
through by a broad-chested man.
Line 157. Hear that note? A competent engineer
learns to superintend his engines rather by ear than
by eye. Anything that needs attention — a loosened
bolt or a bearing that needs oiling — will declare itself
by altering the tone or rhythm of the beat of the
engines. On small ships in which the chief engineer
takes a watch, it is his privilege to spend his four
hours, if he so choose, on the deck instead of in
the engine-room, out of sight of, but within hear-
ing of, his engines. The average marine engineer
would be awakened from sleep if the engines began
to run hard.
Line 161. To work . . . at any tilt. To work
at any angle to which they may be brought by the
pitching or rolling of the ship.
Line 163. The Mornin Stars. Cf . Job xxxviii. 7 :
'When the morning stars sang together, and all the
sons of God shouted for joy.'
Line 165. Not unto us the praise. Cf. Psalm cxv.
I (Prayer-Book version) : 'Not unto us, O Lord, not
unto us, but unto thy Name give the praise.'
Line 168. Try-pit. The pit in which the engines
were tested.
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THE SEVEN SEAS
Line 170. Trip hammer. Large hammer used in
ironworks and worked by machinery.
Line 175. Declarin' all things good. Cf. Genesis
i. 3 1 : 'And God saw every thing that He had made,
and, behold, it was very good.
Line 177. The Artifex. The mechanic, inventor,
maker.
Line 178. Scale. The incrustation that gathers
on boilers.
Slip. The loss of power caused by the fact that a
ship's propeller operates not on a solid but on a fluid
body, in which the screw does not progress to the full
amount of its pitch. When the propeller is lifted
wholly or partly out of the water, as often happens
in rough weather, there is more * slip ' to be reckoned
with than when the water is smooth.
Line 183. The 'Stand by' hell. The signal from
the bridge to the engine-room to warn the engineer to
'stand by' his levers ready to alter the ship's speed.
The pilot, who has been cruising about off the English
coast in a small sailing vessel waiting for a job, has
seen a liner approaching and has lit a flare to indicate
who he is. The officer on watch on the ship's bridge
therefore warns the engineer to be ready to stop the
ship in order to pick him up.
Line 185. Pelagian. The doctrine of Pelagius
was practically the converse of that of Calvin. Cal-
vin taught that God has foreordained who are
to be saved; Pelagius that it is the human will
118
THE SEVEN SEAS
which is the determining factor in the salvation of
the individual.
THE MIRACLES
Stanza i. Lost Atlantis. A legendary continent
long since sunk beneath the sea, and now, if
it ever existed, forming the bed of the Atlantic
Ocean.
Stanza 4. / stayed the sun at noon. The position
of a ship is always ascertained at noon by an observa-
tion of the sun's altitude, if it is visible.
/ read the storm before it fell. I. e. by means of the
barometer, which gives warning of bad weather.
Stanza 5. Ere my rocket reached its height. As
soon as a ship comes within touch of a signal station
on the land she is approaching, she signals her name
by means of flags or rockets, and the news of her
arrival is immediately telegraphed inland. This
poem was written in 1894, before wireless telegraphy
had been brought into practical use.
THE NATIVE BORN
In England the term native is usually applied, by
those who have no respect for their mother tongue, to
any one with a dark skin. In the British overseas
dominions it is applied to any one of English blood
born in that dominion.
Stanza i. God bless her! These words always
accompanied the toast of Queen Victoria's health, as
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THE SEVEN SEAS
'God bless him' is always said by English people
when the health of King George is drunk.
But he does not understand. Cf. in 'The English
Flag/ 'What should they know of England who only
England know?'
The Cross. The Southern Cross, which after mid-
night declines towards the west.
Of obligation. The toasts of obligation are the
loyal toasts drunk to the health of the Sovereign, the
Royal Family, etc.
Stanza 5. Galvanised iron is the roofing-material
in common use throughout Australia. At the end
of the dry season the grass is burnt over wide areas
to ensure a fresh growth when the rains come, and for
weeks at a time the sky is dimmed by the haze caused
by these bush fires. On the great black-soil plains,
which cover the greater part of New South Wales and
Queensland, it is found unnecessary to shoe working
horses, whose hoofs become naturally adapted to the
soft stoneless soil over which they range.
Stanza 6. This stanza refers to New Zealand,
which is free from long periods of drought and sudden
floods, such as Australia periodically experiences.
Stanza 7. On the level treeless Canadian prairies
it is possible to drive a plough, without deviating from
a straight line, right across a large farm from one
boundary to another. Both space and labour are
thus economised. The furrows on some Canadian
wheat farms are as much as eight miles long.
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THE SEVEN SEAS
Stanza 8. Exceptionally severe hail and thunder
storms are experienced throughout Cape Colony.
Otherwise its climate is fine, dry and bracing, and
of especial benefit to all whose lungs are weak. The
great combers that roll in from the Southern Ocean
and break on the coasts of Cape Colony vividly im-
press all who see them. At Sea Point, on the out-
skirts of Cape Town, they are especially magnificent.
In the calmest weather they are ten feet or more in
height, and break with a splendid roar, throwing their
spray almost into the verandahs of the hotels. The
swell on this coast is referred to in 'The Merchant-
men' — 'the dread Agulhas Roll.' The 'baked Karoo'
desert is infinitely more attractive than it sounds. Its
climate is fine, dry and bracing, but it is its wonderful
blend of colours that impresses it on the memory.
The plains are dotted with low ranges of kopjes,
between which grow stunted mimosa, wild pomegran-
ate, and wax heath, all of which during the dry season
is seen through a veil of limpid blue atmosphere.
After the early rains the landscape becomes glorified
with gorgeous purple and yellow blossoms and vivid
greens. The Karoo is technically desert because of
the absence of running water, but the areas that have
been irrigated are as productive as any part of South
Africa.
Stanza 9. In Natal it is no uncommon thing for
white children in outlying districts to speak Zulu
before they can speak English, and even the children
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THE SEVEN SEAS
of well-educated parents often for several years speak
English with the characteristic Zulu intonation, and
with occasional quaint renderings into English of
Zulu metaphors.
Stanza ii. Your foot on the table. It is an old
and excellent Scottish custom to drink toasts to those
whom it is especially desired to honour, with one foot
on the chair and the other on the table,
THE KING
Stanza i. The Cave-men. The Palaeolithic Pre-
historic Age (see notes on the first stanzas of 'In the
Neolithic Age' and 'The Story of Ung') is divided
into two periods. In the earlier period lived the
' river-drift men,' whose remains have been found be-
neath beds of gravel, sand, or clay deposited by the
Thames, the Somme, and other rivers; in the second
period lived 'the Cave-men,' so called because their
remains h^ve been found in caves in various parts
of Europe.
The Gods of Hunt and Dance. If we may infer the
religious beliefs of prehistoric men from those of prim-
itive people of our own day (see note * In the Neolithic
Age,' stanza 5, p. 160), we may suppose that the gods
of palaeolithic man were hunting gods, and that they
were propitiated by ceremonial dances. The Red
Indian idea of Heaven is a Happy Hunting Ground,
and the Snake Dance of the Moquis, the Sun Dance
of the Sioux, the Ghost Dance of the Paiute, the
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THE SEVEN SEAS
Greencorn Dance of the Iroquois, all have a religious
significance. Dancing as a religious ceremony was
handed down from the ancient Greeks even to the
early Christians, who made special provision for danc-
ing in the choir. Methods of hunting the kangaroo
and the gorilla are imitated in the ceremonial dances
of the Australians and some of the West African ne-
groes. A British Columbian Indian will pray to a
mountain-goat to stand still and allow itself to be
shot, and the licentious dances of the Bushmen are
intended to propitiate He-Whom-we-know-with-the
heart -but-cannot-see-with-the-eyes.
Stanza 2. The Lake-Folk. (See note 'In the
Neolithic Age,' stanza 7, p. 161.)
Stanza 3 . The arquebus, the father of the musket
and grandfather of the rifle, and the culverin, the
progenitor of the modern field-gun, were not among
the earliest types of firearm, but came into use during
the sixteenth century (siege-guns first came into use
in the fourteenth), when the development of the use
of gunpowder was making the bow and the cross-bow
obsolete, and thus revolutionising methods of warfare.
Stanza 4. The known and noted breezes. The
scientific mapping out of the prevailing winds of the
world was begun in Germany at the beginning of the
nineteenth century, and was soon taken up in Eng-
land and America. At the present day charts are
obtainable which lay down not only the regular winds
but the tracks of recent storms and the courses they
123
THE SEVEN SEAS
may be expected to take in the near future. The great
maritime explorers of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen-
turies had to trust to luck more than to science, but
it seems that Columbus, before undertaking his his-
toric voyage, evolved a theory, which proved to be
correct, as to the general trend of the North Atlantic
winds.
Stanza 7. The reeking Banks. The Banks are
shoals to the south of Newfoundland, where fog pre-
vails during a great part of the year. The fog is
especially dangerous in that the Banks are frequented
by the Newfoundland fishing fleet, and lie in the
course of vessels bound from New York and the St.
Lawrence to Liverpool, Southampton, Cherbourg,
Hamburg, and other European ports. For a vivid
description of the dangers of the Banks see Captains
Courageous.
THE RHYME OF THE THREE SEALERS
Lines 14-29. At the time of which this poem treats
there were about twenty schooners engaged in seal-
poaching. They made Yokohama their base, but
sailed under the colours of any nation, according to
the needs of the moment. Their ostensible trade was to
hunt the valuable but almost extinct sea-otter. When
they could not find unguarded seal-rookeries to rob,
their plan of campaign was to land on a seal-island,
fraternise with the Cossack guard, and, if they could,
make them drunk and rob the warehouses in which
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THE SEVEN SEAS
the furs were stored. It was reported of one sealer
caught by the Russians, a man named Maclean, that
he was sentenced to work underground chained to a
fellow-convict, and fed by means of a basket lowered
down the shaft of the mine. His fellow died, and
Maclean remained chained to the corpse for three days
before he could communicate with those on the sur-
face. The story lacks official confirmation, but shows
the dread that seal-poachers had of the Russians.
The 'Yokohama pirates,' as they were called, were
dispersed or driven into more lawful livelihoods about
the year 1886.
The seal-islands belonging to Russia are Robben
Island in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Komandorski
(Commander) Islands in the Bering Sea. The latter
are by far the more valuable. Bering Sea is called the
Smoky Sea on account of the dense fogs that prevail
there throughout the summer months, and on account
of the smoke that drifts there from the volcanoes of
the Kurile Islands. The blue fox has been introduced
into many of the Bering Sea islands, where it can be
bred more successfully than on the mainland, as it
cannot there interbreed with the commoner and value-
less red fox. The kit fox, the smallest of all foxes, is
commoner and less valuable than the blue fox. Its
skin is worth from one-and-threepence to five-and-
sixpence, whereas that of the blue fox is worth thirty-
four to one hundred and ninety-five shillings.
Matka, a word applied to a she-seal, is the Russian
I2S
THE SEVEN SEAS
word for ' mother.' As the Russians were the first to
exploit the Bering Sea seal-fisheries, the terms used in
the industry, such as holluschickie, the young unmated
seals, and sea-catchie, the full-grown males, are Rus-
sian. The movements of the seal herds are very
regular, and the date of their arrival on the breeding-
grounds can be foretold almost to a day.
During the breeding season the full-grown bulls lie
on the rocks near the shore, never leaving land till
September. The young seals — ^whose fur alone is
valuable — sleep and play among the sand-dunes
farther inland, except when they visit the sea. The
full-grown males leave paths between the sea and the
inland dunes, and the holluschickie use these as much
as they like, but should one venture on to a rock
that a bull had reserved for himself and his cows,
he would be roughly mauled. As the holluschickie
are as easy to drive as sheep, seal hunters, instead
of killing them where they find them, drive them in
droves to convenient places near the beach before
clubbing and skinning them. (See also note on the
Envoy, p. 132.)
Line 38. Weighed. Weighed or hoisted in her
anchor.
Line 41. Vladivostock. The chief Russian naval
station in the Pacific, to which vessels confiscated by
patrol cruisers would be taken.
Line 42. Whins. Gorse.
Line 44. Hatches. The panels that cover the
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THE SEVEN SEAS
hatchway through which cargo is lowered into a
ship's hold.
Line 48. There was no time to man the brakes, they
knocked the shackle free. Reference to the notes on
the 'Anchor Song' (p. 140) will indicate what a long
and tedious process is that of weighing anchor.
Rather than be captured the crew of the Northern
Light sacrificed their anchor and all the cable they
had out by parting the latter at a point where one
length of cable was joined to another by means of
a shackle. This could be done in a few seconds.
The brakes are the handles of a machine that in
some ships is used instead of a capstan for weigh-
ing the anchor.
Line 49. Goose-winged, in the case of a ' fore and
aft' schooner (that is a schooner carrying no square
sails), means with mainsail and foresail extended over
opposite sides of the ship. 'Fore and aft' rigged
vessels adjust their sails thus when running dead be-
fore the wind. The Northern Light would naturally
choose to run before the wind, as she had no particular
course to steer and no object at the moment except
to get away with all speed from what she believed
to be a Russian cruiser.
Line 51. The Mines of mercury. See note on
lines 14-29.
Line 53. Threw her up in the wind. Turned her
head to the wind so that she came to a standstill.
Line 54. Bluffed — raised out on a bluff. In the
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game of poker a player often pretends, by raising the
stakes, to have a better hand than he really has. If
his opponent has not confidence enough to bet an
equally high stake he retires 'raised out' from the
gamble. The first player then takes all the money
that is on the table, winning by cunning what he
could not have got by the value of his cards. The
trick, which is allowed by the rules of poker, is called
'bluffing.' The crews of both the Northern Light and
the Stralsund ' bluffed ' by faking their ships to resem-
ble Russian cruisers.
Line 65. fFith a double deck to play. With two
packs of cards.
Line 69. Boom. The spar that extends the foot
of the mainsail over the schooner's stern. It creaks
against the mast as it swings to port or starboard.
Line 70. Bitt. A strong' post, standing upright
on the deck, to which cables are made fast.
Line 71. Pelts. Skins.
Line 72. Flenching-knife . Skinning-knife.
Line 82. Bend — a curved rib of the ship's frame-
work. Butt — the end of a plank in a vessel's side
where it meets the next plank.
Line 83. Sparrow-dust. Small shot.
Line 90. Joss. Pidgin-English for a heathen god.
The etymology of the word is curious, as it is a corrup-
tion of the Portuguese Deus. The word appeared in
English literature as long ago as 171 1.
Line 95. Chock. A block of wood wedged against
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THE SEVEN SEAS
a boat, cask, or anything secured on deck to prevent it
from shifting when the vessel rolls.
Cleat. A piece of wood bolted to the deck or the
ship's side to which a rope may be made fast.
Line 98. Fundy Race is between Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick. The tide has here a range of be-
tween 60 and 70 feet, exposing miles of foreshore, at
low water.
Line 99. And see the hogs from ebb-tide mark turn
scampering back to shore. The sight of pigs scamper-
ing to the shore is a common sight also on parts of the
coast of Normandy, where the tide runs out two miles
and more and comes in very rapidly. The pigs follow
the tide as it goes down, grubbing in the mud for
cockles. As soon as it turns they race back to the
mainland lest they should be cut off and drowned.
Line 108. A warlock Finn. Seamen credit the
Finns with magical powers. In Dana's Two Years
before the Mast a case is recorded of the master of a
ship ill-treating a Finn member of his crew because he
thought that the unfortunate man had maliciously
caused the bad weather that the ship encountered.
Line no. Topping-lift. A rope running from the
masthead to the outer end of the boom. As Tom
Hall was standing at the quarter-rail near the wheel,
the topping-lift would be about on a level with his
head.
Line 113, Holluschickie. Young seal; the word
literally means 'bachelor.'
129
THE SEVEN SEAS
Line 120. The sea pull drew them side by side.
Just as the earth draws Hghter bodies towards itself,
so two ships unanchored and becalmed near each
other are slowly drawn towards each other. As the
force exerted in the latter case is slight the movement
is slow. In the case of a very large ship, however, it
is a force to be reckoned with.
The gunnel is the upper edge of the ship's side.
Line 121. The sheer strake is the uppermost layer
of the planks that form the ship's side. Technically
the strake is one breadth of planks (or plates in an
iron or steel ship) forming a continuous strip (or
streak) from stem to stern.
Line 129. Sun-dogs. In the Arctic there some-
times appear to be three or more suns in the sky.
One of these is the true sun. The others, which are
called sun-dogs, are reflections of the sun from off the
ice.
Line 134. To weather and to lee. The weather
side of a ship is the side from which the wind or the
swell of the waves is coming. The opposite side is
the lee.
Line 136. Headsails are all sails set forward of
the foremast.
Line 137. Sheet. The sheets are the lines at-
tached to the lower corners of the sails to hold these in
position.
Line 142. Oh, there comes no good 0' the westering
wind that hacks against the sun. In good weather,
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THE SEVEN SEAS
north of the equator, when the wind shifts it 'veers'
regularly from east to south, south to west, west to
north, etc., as do the hands of a clock, following the
course of the sun. When it shifts in the opposite
direction, against the sun's course, it is said not to
'veer' but to 'back/ Bad weather always follows
the backing of the wind. It is perhaps from this
natural law that the widespread fear of making any
circular movement, such as passing wine decanters
round a dinner-table, widdershins (that is in the oppo-
site direction to the sun's course), has arisen.
Line 145. Tolstoi Mees (Thick Cape). The east-
ernmost point of St. George in the Pribyloff Islands.
Of these islands, St. George and St. Paul, named after
the ships in Bering's fleet that discovered them, are
those on which the seal breed. They formerly be-
longed to Russia, but were ceded, together with
Alaska, to the United States. They contain the
largest seal-rookeries in the world, which are carefully
preserved by the United States Government.
Line 146. Shoal water. Shallow water near land
as opposed to 'the deep,' the open sea.
Line 147. The four hours at a time during which
a sailor is on duty is called his watch on deck. His
four hour period of leisure is called his watch below.
The time during which it is his duty to steer the vessel,
which seldom exceeds two hours at a time, is called his
trick at the wheel.
Line 151. Tell the Yoshiwara girls to burn a stick
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THE SEVEN SEAS
for him. Both the Chinese and Japanese venerate the
dead by burning sticks of incense (called joss-sticks in
Pidgin-English ; see note on line 90) before the images
of gods, saints, etc. Yoshiwara is the quarter of
Yokohama where the prostitutes live.
Line 153. Carry him up to the sand-hollotvs to die
as Bering died. Vitus Bering, the Danish navigator,
explored the Bering Sea on behalf of the Russian
Government in 1728 and again in 1741. (See note on
line 145.) On the latter voyage he was shipwrecked
on the island in the Komandorski Group which now
bears his name. Bering was very ill with scurvy at
the time, and his crew laid him down on the sand,
which soon drifted round him, partially covering him.
When his crew would have cleared it away he told
them to leave it, as he said it helped to keep him warm.
The last resting-place of his life thus became his grave.
Envoy. Constant fogs in the Bering Sea make
navigation very difficult, as it is rarely possible to
take an observation of the sun. Navigators rely
principally on the lead, which gives them the depth
and the character of the sea-bottom below them for
comparison with the chart. For the rest they must
depend on guess work and luck. The islands on
which the seal breed may, however, be approached
with confidence, as their situation is revealed by the
* deep seal-roar,' which day and night throughout the
breeding-season goes up from the seal-rookeries — it is
composed of the bellowing of bulls (sea-catchie) chal-
132
THE SEVEN SEAS
lenging each other, of the mother seals (matkie) caUing
to their pups, and the pups (kotickie) bleating for their
mothers. It has been compared by H. W. Elliot,
author of An Arctic Province, the standard work on
the seal-islands, to the booming of Niagara Falls, and
to the roar of a Derby Day crowd by Roger Pocock,
who, in The Frontiersman, gives an account from per-
sonal experience of a voyage made on a seal-poaching
schooner. The noise rises above the thunder of the
surf and the roar of the fiercest gale. As it can some-
times be heard six miles out to sea, ships approaching
the islands hear it and can find their way through the
fog by its guidance.
The habits of the seal while on the breeding-grounds
are intensely interesting. Each full-grown bull has
as many cows as he can control and keep. The aver-
age is thirty cows to each bull. Some have been
known to have as many as a hundred, but weaklings
have to be content with one or two. The bulls haul
ashore on the seal-islands before the cows arrive.
They select resting-places for the season, choosing
situations near the sea for preference, so that they
may watch for the cows when they arrive and secure
as many as possible. Until the cows come they spend
their time fighting each other for the best places. A
month after the bulls have hauled ashore the cows
begin to arrive. The bulls, on seeing them, swim out
to meet them, each endeavouring to drive as many as
possible to his own reservation. While a bull is col-
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THE SEVEN SEAS
lecting his seraglio, other bulls will try to steal his
cows and he will have to fight for them. Very often,
while two bulls are fighting for a cow, a third bull will
come on the scene, seize her, taking the scruff of her
neck between his teeth, and drag her away to his own
camping-ground. The cow will not be hurt unless
a fourth bull seizes her by the tail and tries to pull her
in another direction. The cows have to be guarded
so vigilantly that the bulls do not sleep for more than
a few minutes at a time during the three months that
they are on shore. The strongest and heaviest bulls
that have won stations near the shore, and are thus
able to watch for the arrival of the cows, get the
biggest seraglios. Those bulls that have had to put
up with stations farther inland have to be content
with such cows as they can steal while other bulls are
fighting. A comprehensive and accurate account of
the habits of seals is given in 'The White Seal' (Jungle
Book).
THE DERELICT
Stanza 2. Whom now the currents con, the rollers
steer. On board ship the officer of the watch cons the
ship, giving his directions to the steersman.
Stanza 3. The gear . . . answers the anguish
of the beams' complaining. As the ship is not being
held to a course, the wind will not fill her sails and
keep her yards steady. The gear (rigging) therefore
creaks with every roll of the abandoned ship.
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THE SEVEN SEAS
Stanza 4. My hawse-pipes guttering wail. The
hawse-pipes are the holes in the ship's bows through
which the anchor-cables pass. Each time the derelict
pitches, the water will come spluttering up through
these holes, swishing down them again as her head
rises before the next wave.
Watches. Time is kept at sea by 'watches' of four
hours each.
Stanza 6. Comber. A great curling wave.
Stanza 7. Where the hergs careen. A ship that is
being careened (see note, 'The Song of Diego Valdez,'
stanza 4, p. 205) is made to lie over on one side. Ow-
ing to the fact that they are constantly melting,
icebergs lean over on one side more and more until
they topple over.
Strake on strake. A strake is one breadth of planks
in a ship's side forming a continuous strip from stem
to stern.
THE SONG OF THE BANJO
Stanza i. Pack. Carry on the back of a pack-
horse.
Tails. Straggles.
Stanza 2. So I play 'em up to water and to bed.
One of the last duties in camp before setthng down for
the night is to water horses.
Stanza 4. Dung-fed camp smoke. In treeless coun-
try the scarcity of fuel creates a problem for travellers
that is sometimes difficult to solve. The sun-dried
^3S
THE SEVEN SEAS
dung of horses, cattle, antelopes, etc., gives, however,
a good heat and burns with a clear glow. The main
drawback to its use is the labour entailed in collecting
it.
Stanza 6. Rowel 'em. Spur them.
Stanza 7. Blooded — initiated. In many primitive
initiation ceremonies neophytes are smeared with
blood. The ceremony is still sometimes performed
in the English hunting field on a youngster who is 'in
at the death ' for the first time.
The shouting of a backstay in a gale. A backstay
is a wire rope that supports the mast of a ship, ex-
tending from the topmast head to the bulwark. In
a high wind its vibrations give out a clear resonant
note.
Stanza 8. Hya! Heeya! Heeya! Hullah! Haul!
These are cries used by sailors when hauling to ensure
that all shall pull in unison. Usually the boatswain
or one of the leading seamen, such as the captain of
the mainmast, gives the time to the others. Such
cries are usually preceded by a verse of a chantey
(see 'The First Chantey,' introductory note, p. 99).
Sign and sail. A seaman has to ' sign on ' the ship's
articles before he is allowed to sail in her.
Johnny Bowlegs. There is here an allusion to the
Cape-Dutch song, 'Pack your kit and trek, Johnny
with the limping leg.'
Kit. Luggage, outfit.
Trek. This is a word that has wandered far from
136
THE SEVEN SEAS
its original meaning. It literally means 'pull/ and in
this sense is used by a Boer waggon-driver to his oxen.
The word was subsequently applied, both as noun and
verb, to a Boer migration by waggon in search of un-
occupied land, and has now come to mean travel of
any kind.
Stanza 9. Many shedded levels. Where railways
run among mountains above the snow-line, as for
instance in the Canadian Rockies, it is necessary in
many places to protect the line from snow-drifts and
avalanches by building long sheds above it.
The Song of Roland. This is the song that Taillefer,
William's minstrel, sang as he rode to his death at the
battle of Hastings. He had been granted permission
to strike the first blow, and as he rode forward singing
he tossed his sword in the air and caught it again so
that the Saxons wondered at his skill. Roland, the
hero of the song, commanded Charlemagne's rear-
guard in the retreat from Spain. Attacked by an
overwhelming Saracen force, Roland refused to sum-
mon Charlemagne to his assistance, as he might have
done by sounding his horn, until all but sixty of his
men were killed. Then he blew it. He fought on
till he was the last survivor, then blew his horn a
second time, so fiercely that his temples burst.
Charlemagne, thirty leagues away, heard the blast,
and before he died Roland heard his answering battle-
cry. The story of his exploits has grown in the telling,
but Roland (or Hruodland) was an historical char-
^37
THE SEVEN SEAS
acter. 'The Song of Roland' is the great epic of the
Middle Ages.
Stanza 15. The Stealer. Hermes, the patron god
of merchants and thieves, began his career of crime
on the day he was born by stealing the oxen that
Apollo tended (Hor. Od. i. 10). He invented the lyre,
which he made out of a sea-shell and ultimately sold
to Apollo, the god of music and poetry.
Stanza 16. From Delos up to Limerick. Deles
was the island which Neptune raised from the sea to
afford a birthplace for Apollo. Limerick is a town in
Ireland that has given its name to a particular kind
of five-lined burlesqued epigram. According to the
New English Dictionary, the form of the modern
limerick has existed in Ireland for some considerable
time. From Delos ujp to Limerick therefore covers
all time from the most ancient to the most modern,
and every class of song from the divine music of
Apollo to the popular music-hall rhyme.
THE LINER SHE'S A LADY
»
A 'liner' is a passenger boat that plies regularly
between certain ports. The cargo steamer, in sea
slang called a ' tramp,' on the other hand, never knows
where her next voyage will take her. She may go to
West Africa for a cargo of oil or rubber in January,
and in June be dodging ice in the White Sea on her
way to Archangel for timber, and a month or so later
may be loading cotton in New Orleans or lying in
138
THE SEVEN SEAS
Rangoon on the chance of getting a load of rice.
Very often she is out of touch with her owners, and
her captain sohcits custom from port to port. The
earnings of a cargo steamer plying an uncertain trade
therefore bear comparison with those of unfortunate
women who hang about Portsmouth Hard by the
Royal Dockyard waiting for sailors who have been
paid off or granted liberty ashore.
Fratton is a suburb of Portsmouth.
MULHOLLAND'S CONTRACT
Stanza 2. / had been singin' to them to keep 'em
quiet there. Prairie or bush bred cattle are very wild
when first herded and driven towards market. At
night time they are liable to stampede at any sudden
noise, even that of a stick breaking beneath a horse's
hoofs. It is therefore the duty of a stockman or cow-
boy who rides round a herd at night to sing continu-
ously, whether he has any musical ability or not.
The cattle learn to associate the sound of singing with
the men who drive them and to whom they get ac-
customed. Therefore when they are on a cattle ship
their natural fear at the unaccustomed noises of the
sea will be modified if, above the din of the gale, they
can hear the strains of the 'Swanee River' or 'Yip-i-
addy.'
Stanza 6. Stanchion. Any upright post or bar,
such as the post of a cattle-pen or the iron pillar be-
tween decks that supports the deck above.
139
THE SEVEN SEAS
Stanza il. An' turned my cheek to the smiter ex-
actly as Scripture says. Cf. Luke vi. 29 : 'And unto
him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the
other.'
ANCHOR SONG
In this song are contained in their proper order the
words of command that the master of a sailing vessel
might use in getting his ship away to sea. The proc-
ess of getting up an anchor varies so greatly in
different ships, however, and has undergone so much
modification as machinery improved, that many sea-
men might question the accuracy of the directions
contained in this song. Some of the words used,
moreover, are now almost obsolete. It should be
mentioned, therefore, that all the terms here used,
and the order in which the commands are given, have
the authority of Dana's Sailing Manual.
Stanza i. All sails being so arranged that they
can be let go at short notice, the cable is hauled in by
means of the capstan — ^weary back-breaking work
that requires all hands and may take two or three
hours if much cable is out, for the cable comes in
literally inch by inch. The men walk round and
round the capstan, turning it with long handspikes
placed in sockets at the head of the drum round which
the cable is passed. When the cable is heaved short
— that is, when all the slack has been hauled in — the
drum of the capstan is kept from sHpping back by a
140
THE SEVEN SEAS
pawl or steel wedge that locks into the cogged wheel
at the base of the capstan. The men then go aloft
to loosen the sails. The yards are braced aback and
full — that is the foreyards are braced aback, a posi-
tion which tends to send the vessel astern, and the
afteryards are braced full to the wind, a position which
tends to send her ahead. Thus the sails, though
spread, neutralise each other and the wind holds the
ship in one spot until the work of getting up the an-
chor is completed. As soon as the anchor loses its
hold on the ground the ship will drift. Before it is
broken out, therefore, the jib must be hoisted. This
will make the ship pay off — ^that is, her head will come
round until the wind is at an angle that will start her
on her course.
Stanza 2. Mother Carey. A term of endearment
applied to the open sea. Its history is peculiar.
From the early days of Christianity the Virgin Mary
was regarded as the especial patroness of sailors, and
was invoked under various appellations, one of which
was 'Mater Cara' (Dear Mother). The name Aves
Matris Carae (The Dear Mother's birds) was given to
the stormy petrels, as these friendly birds warn sailors
of the approach of bad weather. When Latin be-
came a dead language the name Aves Matris Carae
became in French 'Oiseaux de Notre Dame' and in
English ' Mother Carey's chickens.' From the name
Mother Carey's chickens, applied to the seabirds,
comes the term Mother Carey applied to the sea.
141
THE SEVEN SEAS
Stanza 3. Everything being in such order that the
ship will be under control directly she loses her hold
of the bottom, the men return to the capstan and
again heave away. Soon the anchor is apeak, that is,
directly under the ship's bows, the cable stretching
vertically downwards. With a strong heave it is
broken out of the ground. The work then becomes
lighter and proceeds more rapidly. When the anchor
comes to the surface of the water the mate signals to
the captain that it is 'awash.' ('Clear' means that
it has come up clear — that is not fouled with the
cable.) As it is the starboard bower — ^the anchor on
the right hand side of the ship's bow — ^that has been
holding her, the ship casts or turns to port as soon as
the anchor leaves the mud.
Stanza 4. Having severed their last connection
with the land, the men feel that they are paying with
the foresheet any debts they may have contracted
ashore. Australian miners have a somewhat similar
expression; when they leave a mining field without
settling up with the storekeeper, they say that they
'pay by the mile.'
Ballast. Heavy material — iron, lead, sand, or
stone— placed in the bottom of the hold to keep the
ship steady. When a ship has little or no cargo to
carry she is loaded with some comparatively worth-
less material as extra ballast. This will be thrown
overboard when space is wanted for a more profitable
cargo. As British imports — grain, wool, timber, etc.
142
THE SEVEN SEAS
— are on the whole more bulky than her exports of
manufactured articles, it is inevitable that a number
of ships must leave England 'in ballast.'
Hawser. The cable attached to the anchor.
Bitt. A perpendicular baulk of timber standing up
from the deck, to which ropes, etc., are made fast.
As soon as the anchor is clear of the water the men
leave the capstan. Others who have been hauling in
the slack of the cable as it passed the capstan-drum
then make it fast to a bitt to prevent it slipping back.
Foresheet. The line used to keep the foresail in
position.
Stanza 5. The ship now comes on her course and
begins to forge ahead. The first thing to do is to
secure the anchor on board. When first lifted clear
of the water it hung from the hawse-hole — the hole in
the bows through which the cable runs. It must now
be hoisted handsomely (i. e. carefully) to the cathead — •
a thick beam that projects from the bows and is per-
forated at the end to hold a revolving pulley. This
pulley is connected to a block now attached to the
ring of the anchor. The free end of the rope that
passes through both block and pulley is termed the
fall. The seamen tally on to the fall {i. e. catch hold
of it) and haul away, walking aft as they do so — ^the
cable from the hawse-hole being simultaneously
slackened— till the ring of the anchor is up to the
cathead. The rope that passes through the sheave
of the cathead is not strong enough permanently to
143
THE SEVEN SEAS
take the weight of the anchor, so it is now secured
by means of a stopper, a heavy chain that is passed
through the ring of the anchor. As this cannot easily
be knotted, the stopper is made fast to the ring and
stock of the anchor by seizing or lashing it with cord.
The fluke of the anchor is still hanging downwards,
and this also must be secured. A davit or fish-hook-
shaped iron in the bows to the end of which a block is
attached, similar to those with which a ship's boats
are hoisted and lowered, is swung outwards. From
its block dangles a rope, at the lower end of which is
a hook. This hook is so swung that it catches in the
fluke — the process is sufficiently like angling to justify
the term fish. When the hook has caught the fluke
it is hauled up till the stock of the anchor is parallel
with the ship's side. The forward support or guy of
the davit is then eased, with the result that the davit
swings inward like a crane, carrying the fluke with it.
The fluke is then lowered on to the gunnel of the ship,
where it will remain until the anchor is again required.
Stanza 6. All hands then go aloft and unfurl the
square sails by loosening the gaskets, the slender ropes
with which these sails when not in use are secured to
the yards. The ship is now forging ahead and losing
sight of one harbour landmark after another.
Dropping light on light. When a ship leaves a land-
mark so far astern that it disappears below the hori-
zon, she is said to 'drop' it. When, on the other
hand, she comes within view of it, she is said to 'lift'
144
THE SEVEN SEAS
it (cf. 'The Rhyme of the Three Sealers,' 'And if the
light shall lift aright to give your landfall plain'; and
'The Three-Decker,' 'You'll never lift again our
purple-painted headlands').
Stanzas 7 and 8. Soon the ship is clear of the
harbour and can be put on her course. The wind is
against her and the ship must thrash or beat against
it in a series of zig-zag tacks instead of sailing straight
ahead as she would if she had a side wind or a fair
wind {i. e. a wind behind her). As the prevailing
wind in England is the south-west, it is usually the
fate of ships outward bound down the Channel to
have a head wind. The order is given to the helms-
man, 'wheel, full and by.' He is to keep the ship as
close to the wind as possible consistently with the
sails being kept full or distended. The ship thrashes
her way down Channel, passes the whirling Ushant
light that marks the south side of the English Channel,
and sees the lights of Brest Harbour in the distance.
Then these flicker out and she is alone in the open sea.
Red Ensign. The flag of the British mercantile
marine. It is a red flag with the Union Jack occupy-
ing one corner. The flag of the Royal Navy is the
White Ensign.
All she'll stand. All the sail that can safely be
spread.
The dirty scud to lee. Low thin clouds flying
swiftly before the wind. 'Dirty' here does not refer
to the colour of the clouds. In sea language bad
14s
THE SEVEN SEAS
weather is called 'dirty' weather. Hence scud that
indicates bad weather is dirty scud. The Ushant
light is to the lee of the ship {i. e. on the opposite side
to that from which the wind is blowing), because she
was beating against the wind when she passed it.
THE LOST LEGION
Stanza 2. The Wallaby track. In the Australian
bush a man in search of work, or who makes a pre-
tence of wishing to get employment an excuse for liv-
ing on the hospitality of the squatters, tramps from
one station to another with his swag, i. e. a bundle
consisting of a spare suit of clothes wrapped up in a
blanket, on his back, and in his hand a billycan or
'billy' in which to boil meat and make tea. Such a
man is called a 'traveller,' a 'sundowner' (because he
usually turns up at a station at sundown, when it
would be churlish to refuse him hospitality), or a
Murrumbidgee-whaler (because when not on the road
he often ekes out a precarious living by fishing in the
Murrumbidgee or other river, and is apt to tell lies
about the 'whales' he has caught). When on the
road, a sundowner is said to be 'humping his swag,'
'humping Matilda,' or 'humping bluey' (a swagman's
blanket is usually coloured so that it will not stain
easily) . He is also described as being ' on the Wallaby
track.' (The wallaby is a small kind of kangaroo.)
Sarawak. The State of Sarawak in Borneo was
founded by one of the most famous members of 'the
146
THE SEVEN SEAS
Lost Legion,' Sir James Brooke, who at his own ex-
pense equipped a ship and trained a crew with which
to enforce order among the Dyaks of North Borneo.
In acknowledgment of his services, the Sultan of
Borneo made him rajah of the State which is still
governed by a member of his family.
The Fly. The Fly River in British New Guinea.
It attracts the hardier types of gold prospectors.
Tucker. Food.
Masai. A people of Eastern Equatorial Africa,
who have a strong prejudice against work. Cattle
looting used to be their chief industry, and the robbing
of Swahili caravans their principal form of recreation.
Stanza 3. The Islands. The South Sea Islands,
owing to their warm climate and the absence of con-
ventional society, have a great attraction for the class
of man who likes to wear pyjamas all day. The
industries open to white men are trading for beche-de-
mer (sea-slug) for the Chinese market, and copra
(dried cocoanut), pearl-fishing, and, with limits that
are constantly growing more restricted, 'black-
birding,' or kidnapping recruits for the indentured
labour market.
The Bay. The Gulf of Carpentaria, to the north
of Australia, locally known as 'the Bay.' The centre
of the pearl fishery in these waters is at Thursday
Island in Torres Straits.
We've shouted on seven ounce nuggets. In the early
days of all the chief gold-fields, scarcity of currency
147
THE SEVEN SEAS
necessitated payment for everything bought locally
in raw gold. Small payments were made in pinches
of gold-dust — 'a nib' (of gold) for a 'nobbier' (of
drink) was formerly a common Australian expression
— but men who wished to celebrate a lucky strike
would shout drinks for all-comers with a fair-sized
nugget. A seven ounce nugget of Australian gold
would be worth about £25, enough to buy ten drinks
apiece for at least twenty-five people, even at the
highest gold-fields' prices. Many stories are current
of extravagance on the early gold-fields. Revolver
practice at bottles of champagne was sometimes
adopted as a pastime by those who were tired of
'shouting' for every thirsty loafer in sight, and it was
a common practice to place glasses of champagne on
a dancing-floor, and make any dancer who upset one
'shout' a case of champagne to be shared among the
dancers. A wily Mohammedan camel-driver on the
Coolgardie gold-field used to plead religious scruples
when a miner offered to treat him, and ask that his
camels should be shouted for instead: to assuage a
camel's thirst was an expensive business with water
at half a crown a gallon.
A Seedeehoy's pay. Seedee (Hind. Sidi) was a name
originally given in India to African Mohammedans,
many of whom formerly held positions of trust under
Deccan rajahs. Later it came to mean negroes in
general. Now, in its corrupted form of ' seedeeboy,'
it is applied to natives of Africa (Zanzibaris, etc.)
148
THE SEVEN SEAS
who work in the stokeholds of ships. The fact that
many of the seedeeboys are Krumen from the coast
districts of Liberia in West Africa, has given rise to
the untenable derivation of 'seedee' from C. D. (i. e.
Coast Districts).
Sayyid Burgash. Sultan of Zanzibar and the ad-
joining African coast from 1870 to 1888. He leased
a part of his mainland territory — a strip of coast-line
ten miles broad — to Sir William Mackinnon, from
which concession grew what is now British East
Africa.
Loben. Lobengula, chief of the Matabele from
1870 to 1894. He conceded the mineral rights
throughout his dominions to the British South Africa
Company for a number of rifles and ammunition and
a sum of £100 a month, which he spent principally on
bottled Bass. He did not, however, cede his privilege
annually to raid the Mashonas. His assertion of this
right — his warriors actually killed Mashona servants
of the Chartered Company's pioneers in the streets of
Victoria — led to the Matabele War, the destruction
of the royal kraal near what is now Buluwayo, the
flight of Lobengula towards the Zambesi, and the ex-
tension of the Chartered Company's power in Mata-
beleland. Lobengula's eyes were 'smoke-reddened'
because Matabele huts are not provided with chim-
neys, and Lobengula spent most of his time indoors
towards the end of his reign, as he had become too
corpulent to walk.
149
THE SEVEN SEAS
Stanza 4. An I. D. B. race. For many years the
chief industry in Kimberley, next to diamond mining,
was I. D. B. {i. e. illicit diamond buying). In spite of
the utmost precautions, natives employed in the
mines often smuggled diamonds out of the compounds
and sold them for a twentieth part of their value to
speculators. In consequence, in 1882, the Diamond
Trade Act authorised a penalty of fifteen years' penal
servitude for any one found in possession of an un-
registered diamond. The mine-owners employed an
Immense number of detectives, and many of these,
to earn their wages, did not scruple to offer an inno-
cent stranger a diamond over a friendly glass of beer,
and arrest him as soon as he had taken it into his
hand. The detective might even drop it into his
pocket unobserved, and then exercise his power of
search. Cases are recorded of men hiding diamonds
In the houses of men against whom they owed a grudge,
and then informing the police where to find them.
The methods taken in Kimberley to suppress I. D. B.
were so much disliked in parts of South Africa, outside
Cape Colony, that an I. D, B. thief was safe as soon
as he crossed the border. The Orange Free State
border being only a few miles from the town of Kim-
berley, many I. D. B. thieves sought to escape by
racing for the frontier on dark nights mounted on
thoroughbred horses. The frontier was of course
constantly patrolled by mounted police. In Kim-
berley itself, owing largely to the methods of the
ISO
THE SEVEN SEAS
detectives, I. D. B. was regarded as a very venial
offence. A genial adventurer once told the writer of
these notes that on one occasion, being under suspic-
ion of I. D. B., his lawyer urged him to state frankly
in confidence whether he had ever bought diamonds.
His reply was, 'If you ask such damned silly questions
I shall go to another lawyer. Don't all of us, and
you yourself, buy diamonds when we get a chance?'
Stanza 6. Foreloopers. The leading pair of oxen
in a South African waggon-team, unlike Australian
teams that obey the driver's voice, are usually led by
a Kaffir boy, called a forelooper, who pulls them to
the near side or the off side by means of a rheim of
hide fastened to their horns.
'Regards,' 'Hurrah,' 'Here's How,' and ' Salue'
are expressions used by men who pledge each others'
healths, equivalent to the common 'Here's luck.'
'Regards' is an abbreviation of 'Here's my regards.'
'Here's How' is Canadian. According to Mr. E. B.
Osborn {Morning Post, 14th March, 1913), 'How' was
the signal given by the leader of a party of buffalo
hunters for his men to close in on the herd. 'Here's
a how' therefore has come to mean 'Let the fun be-
gin.' 'Salue' is South African.
The Australian goes back to the 'swag and billy*
(see note on stanza 2 of this poem) . Packhorses are
not used to any great extent in South Africa, and the
Australian talks about the 'track,' not the 'trail.' It
is therefore the Canadian who goes back to the trail
151
THE SEVEN SEAS
and packhorse. The South African goes back to the
trek and the lager. 'Trek' in this case means journey
(see note, 'The Song of the Banjo,' stanza 8, p. 136).
A lager is a camp formed by drawing up waggons so
as to form a square. This camp formation was
adopted originally by the early Dutch voortrekkers
as a means of defence against native attacks. It is
still used in country where there is danger from lions.
The oxen are confined inside the square, and the men
with their families sleep in the waggons.
THE SEA-WIFE
Stanza 3 . For since that wife had gate or gear,
Or hearth or garth or field.
The words here used are north country words.
Gate means the right to pasture horses or cattle on
common land. Gear means property of any kind. A
garth is a small piece of enclosed land, such as a yard,
paddock, or orchard.
HYMN BEFORE ACTION
The words of this poem are adapted to the music
of the well-known hymn 'The Church's one Founda-
tion.'
TO THE TRUE ROMANCE
Stanza 5. Who wast or yet the Lights were set,
A whisper in the Void.
Cf. Genesis i. i, 2: 'In the beginning God created
152
THE SEVEN SEAS
the heaven and the earth. And the earth was with-
out form, and void ; and darkness was upon the face of
the deep.'
Stanza lo. Wrack — damage, wreck. Scaith —
harm.
THE FLOWERS
Stanza 3. Muisenberg, Constantia, and Wynberg
are villages lying at the foot of Table Mountain. The
writer of these notes, having five days to spend at
Cape Town after living five years in the Queensland
bush, devoted the whole of his spare time to wander-
ing among the lanes between these villages, because
the countryside reminded him so much of England.
The resemblance would not probably have been so
striking to one fresh out from home.
The tilted wain. Throughout South Africa waggons
provided with tilts or tent-like canvas coverings are
in common use. An old-fashioned farmer likes to
use his waggon as a dwelling-place when away from
home, even when he visits a town where hotels are
available. The tilt affords shelter for his bed and
gear as well as privacy when he is asleep.
Stanza 4. The Otway district of Victoria, where
the magnificent Australian gum-trees are seen at
their best, has been reserved as a State forest, an act
of national forethought appreciated as much by mere
holiday-makers as by those who wish to study Aus-
tralian flora in its primeval conditions.
153
THE SEVEN SEAS
Stanza 5. The kowhai (Sophora tetraptera) is a
New Zealand shrub with light foliage and bright
yellow flowers. It flowers at the turn of midwinter
before it bursts into leaf. Parts of the shores of
Lake Taupo in North Island are covered with it, and
as the season advances its petals drop on to the surface
of the water. The kowhai was introduced into Eng-
land in 1765 by Sir Joseph Banks.
The windy town is Wellington, the capital of New
Zealand. There is a local joke to the effect that no
man in Wellington is ever seen with both hands in his
pockets, as one is always needed to hold on his hat.
The wind sweeps down from an amphitheatre of hills,
the sides of which are golden with gorse and broom,
that lie at the back of Wellington.
The Bell-bird. One of the honey-eaters. Its note
is most musical, and resembles a chime of bells.
Ratas. The climbing rata {Metrosideros floHda)
has a profusion of orange-scarlet flowers that make
beautiful masses of colour against the dark green of
the bush. Another rata {M. lucida) is a tree that
grows to a height of sixty feet. 'Rata' is from a
Maori word meaning 'red-hot,' an allusion to the
colour of its flowers.
Fern and Flax are the two most characteristic of
New Zealand plants. The latter grows in large
swampy areas. The tree-fern, perhaps the most ex-
quisitely graceful of all plants, is common in the
forests.
1 54
THE SEVEN SEAS
THE LAST RHYME OF TRUE THOMAS
'What we know about True Thomas — Thomas of
Erceldoune, the Rhymer — is more legendary than
historical. He lived in the thirteenth century, on the
Scottish side of the Border. According to a popular
legend, Thomas, lying one day on Huntlie Bank, was
accosted by a lady gay, the Queen of a realm not ' in
heaven, paradise, hell, purgatory, nor on middel-erthe.'
Thomas mounted behind the Queen on her milk-white
steed and rode along the road to fair Elfland.
'For forty days and forty nights
He waded through red blood to the knee.
And saw neither sun nor moon
But heard the roaring of the sea.
And till seven years were past and gone
True Thomas on earth was never seen.'
While in fairyland the Queen gave Thomas an ap-
ple, saying:
'Take this for thy wages, True Thomas:
It will give thee the tongue that can never lie.'
Two commonplace reasons may be assigned for the
belief that the real Thomas of Erceldoune visited
fairyland. The first is that he often used to disappear
mysteriously for long intervals — commentators sug-
gest to rest and meditate in a monastery. The second
is that on one occasion he so nearly died that a super-
THE SEVEN SEAS
stitious people may have supposed him to have visited
another world. He was in an English prison so ill
that the jailer, believing him to be dead, threw him
over the walls on to the castle rubbish-heap. Here
he was found by an old nurse, who carried him away,
and while preparing him for burial found that he was
not dead.
The Eildon Tree Stone, a large boulder still lying
by the wayside near Melrose, is said to mark the spot
where True Thomas disappeared with the Fairy
Queen.
Stanza 3. Knowes. Hillocks.
Stanzas 4 and 5. Under the feudal system knight-
hood was an honour reserved for those who held land,
and were thus able to place a number of armed re-
tainers at the disposal of their sovereign in time of
war. So many men of this class impoverished them-
selves in order to equip troops for the Crusades, that
it became the custom for monarchs to confer knight-
hood on men who deserved it but had lost the means
of suitably supporting the honour. Sometimes a
monarch when creating a new knight would confer
on him land sufficient to support his new dignity, also
a keep (castle), tail (property reserved to the holder
and heirs of his body), seizin (freehold land), the
right to administer justice, a blazon (coat of arms),
etc., thus placing him in all respects on an equality
with those who could claim knighthood by virtue of
the land they held.
156
THE SEVEN SEAS
There were two ceremonies by which knighthood
was conferred. On the battlefield the ceremony was
as simple as at the present day, and consisted merely
of a touch with the sword or a light blow from the
hand, combined with an exhortation to knightly con-
duct from the giver to the receiver. The other, less
common, ceremony was far more elaborate. The
prospective knight began by being shaved and having
his hair cut. He then took a bath, and while he was
in it two 'ancient and grave knights' instructed him
'touching the order and feats of chivalry,' and made
the sign of the cross with water on his naked shoulder.
The candidate for knighthood was then dressed, re-
freshed with wine, and left in the chapel, where he
spent the night in prayer, his arms and armour having
previously been placed on the altar. In the morning
he confessed and received the Sacrament. After-
wards he rode, attended by his future squire, to the
hall where he was to receive knighthood. Two
knights buckled on his gold spurs (only knights might
wear gold spurs^squires wore silver), making the
sign of the cross on his knees as they did so. Then he
who was to dub him knight buckled on his sword,
struck him on the neck, bade him be a good knight,
and kissed him. Lastly, all went to the church,
where the new knight laid his sword on the altar and
vowed to defend the church.
Each knight was entitled to be attended by a page
and a squire — two boys of gentle birth who would
IS7
THE SEVEN SEAS
themselves eventually become knights. A knight's
attendant would be a page on entering his service
and become a squire at the age of about sixteen,
after which he accompanied his master in the battle-
field.
Stanza 28. Birred and brattled are two Scottish
words. The former represents the sound made by a
spinning-wheel, the latter that of horses cantering.
Stanza 31. The eyass stooped upon the pye. The
hawk swooped down on the magpie.
IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE
The Stone Age is the period in the world's history
before man had learned the use of metals, and there-
fore made his tools and weapons of wood, horn, and
stone. It is divided into two periods, the Palaeolithic
or 'old-stone' age when his stone implements were
roughly chipped, and the Neolithic or 'new-stone'
age when they were highly finished and polished. The
date of the Stone Age varies in different countries.
In Egypt the Neolithic Period ended some six cen-
turies B. c, whereas the Australian aborigines, the
South African bushmen, and other peoples were still
in the Neolithic stage, and the Tasmanians still in
the Palaeolithic stage, when first discovered by Euro-
peans.
The scenes of the following stories are laid in -Eng-
land of the Neolithic Period, 'The Knife and the
Naked Chalk' {Rewards and Fairies), 'How the First
158
THE SEVEN SEAS
Letter was written,' and 'How the Alphabet was
made' {Just-so Stories).
Stanza 2. Troll and gnome and dwerg. Super-
natural dwarfish inhabitants of hills and caves and the
bowels of the earth.
Stanza 3. Solutre. In the Solutre cave at Saone-
et-Loire (France) many relics of the Stone Age
have been found. They include stone spear-heads,
flint knives and saws, and barbed spear-points, as
well as bone and horn implements. They are as-
sociated with gnawed bones of over forty thousand
horses.
A mammothistic etcher. That there were wonder-
ful artists among the men of the Stone Age is evi-
denced by the life-like etchings of mammoths, horses,
fish, chamois, etc., that have been found engraved on
bones and by relief carvings on horns of this period.
Admirable paintings in three colours of boar and
bison have been found in the cave of Altamira in
Spain. They are said to be fifty thousand years old,
and it is remarkable that they must have .been made
by artificial light. Neolithic man seems to have been
more materialistic and practical than his Palaeolithic
ancestors, for, although his tools were better, his art
was greatly inferior to theirs.
Stanza 4. / stripped them, scalp from skull.
Scalping a dead enemy is a very ancient custom, not
confined to North American Indians. Herodotus
describes the practice among the Sc5rthians, and the
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THE SEVEN SEAS
Franks and Anglo-Saxons took scalps as late as the
ninth century a. d.
Stanza 5. But my Totem saw the shame. The
worship of Totems, almost universal among savage
peoples, is too vast a subject to treat in a note.
Briefly it may be said that a man, a family, a clan or a
tribe chooses some object for a totem and venerates it.
The object is usually an animal, such as beaver, an
emu, a crocodile (as Simeon means a wolf, Caleb a
dog, etc., some authorities believe that the ancient
Israelites were totem worshippers; other authorities
say they were not), but such objects as the north-west
wind, sea-foam, and even the ends-of-things have
been adopted as totems. In most cases a man will
not eat the flesh of an animal that he has adopted for
his totem, though he would not object to others doing
so. In some cases a man can marry any woman who
has a different totem from his own, in other cases the
opposite is the rule. Many North American Indians
carve the ridge-poles of their houses with representa-
tions of their totems. Among the duties of a totem
are those of visiting his worshipper in dreams and
giving him good advice. Although it is practically
impossible for us to know anything definite about
the religious beliefs of Neolithic man, Rudyard Kip-
ling is on fairly safe ground in supposing that he was
a totem worshipper, for innumerable cases have been
found of primitive peoples holding religious beliefs
that were current amongst races thousands of miles
160
THE SEVEN SEAS
away and thousands of years before. The theories
among the modern Maoris with regard to the creation,
for instance, are strikingly similar to those of the
primitive Greeks, and the Greeks in their mysteries
used an instrument, the rhombus, that the Australian
blacks, who call it a turndun, still use in their initia-
tion rites.
Stanza 6. Certified by Traill. Henry Duff Trail,
himself a minor poet as well as a critic and reviewer,
was at the time of the publication of this poem a con-
tributor to the St. James's Gazette and the Saturday
Reviezu.
Stanza 7. Allohrogenses. A Celtic tribe of south-
ern Gaul that came into contact with Rome in 121
B. c.
Our only plots were filed in lakes at Berne. The
prehistoric inhabitants of Switzerland lived in villages
built on piles near the shores of lakes. Traces of over
a hundred of these villages have been found, the most
perfect example being one on Lake Moosseedorf near
Berne. It was 70 feet long, 50 feet wide, and con-
nected with the shore by a gangway of faggots. The
relics that have been found there include stone axes
with horn handles, a flint saw, harpoons of barbed
horn, awls, needles, chisels and fish hooks of bone,
and a skate made out of a horse's leg bone.
The plot of any literary work is its main outline.
Stanza g. The wildest dreams of Kew are the facts
of Khatmandhu. Khatmandhu, the capital of Nepal,
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THE SEVEN SEAS
is noted for its beauty, fertility, and equable climate,
so that what is grown at Kew Gardens with great
labour and trouble can be grown there without any
trouble at all. A great spring festival is held there
annually.
The crimes of Clapham chaste in Martaban. The
district of Clapham in London earned a reputation for
piety when the 'Clapham sect,' which included Wil-
liam Wilberforce, Zacchary Macaulay, and other
philanthropists, lived there. Martaban is a town near
Moulmein in Burma, a land east of Suez, where,
according to Kipling's 'Mandalay,' 'there aren't no
Ten Commandments.'
THE STORY OF UNG
Ung belonged to the later period of the Palaeolithic
or 'old-stone' age. Men of this period lived a life
almost identical with that of the Eskimo of to-day —
it is suggested, indeed, that the modern Eskimo are
their lineal descendants — except that later Palaeolithic
men lived mostly in caves. Contemporary European
animals included the cave-bear, the cave-hyena, the
cave-lion, the mammoth, the sabre-toothed tiger,
the hairy rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the musk-ox
and musk-sheep, the Irish elk, the wild horse, the
glutton, the reindeer, and the aurochs.
Stanza 5. The mastodon was a prehistoric ele-
phant. The most obvious difference between it and
the mammoth was that the former's tusks were
162
THE SEVEN SEAS
straight whereas the tusks of the latter were curved
almost into the form of a circle.
The howhead is a variety of the Arctic right-
whale never found far from the floes and ice-barri-
ers. As the normal life of a whale extends to many
hundred years, he has not yet had time to modify
his shape.
Stanza 8. Ouches. Brooches (see note on 'Dor-
dogne,' stanza 13, below).
Stanza 9. Trammels. Nets.
Stanza 13. Near Dordogne in western France are
caves in which have been preserved a large number
of relics of Palaeolithic man. These include awls,
lance-heads, hammers and saws of flint, bone needles,
arrowheads, harpoons, the gnawed bones of mam-
moths, cave-lions, cave-bears, horses, reindeer, ibex,
and musk-sheep, and representations of animals —
oxen, reindeer, horses, bison, etc. — either sculptured
on horn or engraved on stone or ivory. One of the
most remarkable of these is a figure of a mammoth en-
graved on a piece of mammoth ivory. In one place
the artist seems to have made a false stroke (no era-
sure of a line was possible to him), but the whole
figure is far better drawn than most modern untrained
men could draw. The proportions of the great ani-
mal, his shaggy hide and small eye, his life-like posi-
tion, are delineated with great skill. On the walls
of the cave of La Mouthe are three pictures of hunting
scenes: one represents bisons and horses, one a primi-
163
THE SEVEN SEAS
tive hut, a bison, reindeer, ibex and mammoth, and
one a mammoth, hinds, and horses.
THE THREE DECKER
The old wooden three-decker ships are as extinct as
the three-volume novel. They became obsolete when
ships were built of iron. They were staunch vessels,
though. The Victory was forty years old when she
carried Nelson into action at Trafalgar, and is still
afloat in Portsmouth harbour.
Stanza i. A watch. Half the ship's crew (see
note, 'The Second Voyage,' stanza 5, p. 204).
Packet. Strictly a ship sailing regularly to a defi-
nite destination instead of tramping now to one port,
now to another.
Stanza 2. Able Bastards. This expression refers
to the general tenor of the early Victorian novel, when
the apparently low-born hero turns out to have been
changed at nurse. Hence 'Wicked Nurse confessed.'
Islands 0/ the Blest. An earthly paradise on the
rim of the western ocean inhabited by mortals to
whom the gods have given immortality. No wind
blows there and perpetual summer reigns. In this
case they typify the regions of romance.
Stanza 3. Some readers see in this stanza a pun-
ning reference to the well-known tourist agencies of
Gaze and Cook and to the Inman line of passenger
steamers, now incorporated with the American Line.
Stanza 4. Zuleika was, according to the Koran,
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THE SEVEN SEAS
the name of Potiphar's wife who tempted Joseph
(Yussuf). The Old Testament story is related in the
39th chapter of Genesis.
Stanza 5. Foc^sle. The forecastle of a ship, in
which the common seamen are quartered.
Stanza 6. County-folk. The aristocracy of an
English county consists mainly of families that have
been long established on the land and are called
'county people.' A newcomer requires good intro-
ductions if he is to be received into this class. The
old type of three-volume novel seldom concerned it-
self with people of lower than county rank. The works
of Dickens did much to break this convention.
Stanza 7. Lift (see note to 'Anchor Song,' stanza
6, p. 144). Purple-painted. The colour lent by dis-
tance to a landscape.
Lordly keeps of Spain. To build ' Castles in Spain '
is an expression, borrowed from the French, for weav-
ing magnificent fancies.
A ram-you-damn-you-liner. A passenger steamer
that does not care how many small craft she sinks,
being solely concerned with maintaining her adver-
tised speed from port to port.
Bucking-screws. High-speed propellers that shake
the ship when they race.
Stanza 8. Sirens. The Sirens of classical myth-
ology were sea-nymphs whose voices were so ravish-
ing that none could resist them. The hooters that
modern steamers blow at regular intervals when
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THE SEVEN SEAS
steaming through fog are satirically called sirens,
because the noise they make is so hideous.
Boom out the dripping oil-hags. In very bad weather
bags of oil are suspended on long booms over the
weather side of the ship. The oil dripping into the
water gives the oncoming waves a temporary oily
coating, with the result that they do not break as
badly as they otherwise would.
Stanza 9. Threshing. Beating against the wind.
Drogue. A sea-anchor made of planks, oars, etc,
A crippled vessel in tempestuous weather must ride
out the gale head to wind ; if she presented her side to
the waves she would be swamped by the seas that would
break over her. A bundle of planks is thrown over-
board and attached to the ship's bows with a cable.
As the ship will drift faster to leeward than the planks,
the drogue will hold her head towards the wind.
The Flying Dutchman. This phantom ship sails
calmly in the teeth of the fiercest gale (see note, 'The
Merchantmen,' stanza 7, p. 107).
Truck to taffrail dressed. Adorned with flags along
the full length of the signal halliards from the mast-
head to the stern.
Stanza 10. Poop-lanterns went out of use at the
beginning of the nineteenth century.
Stanza 1 1 . Hull down. The ship is so far off that
her hull is below the horizon and only her masts are
visible.
All's well. The customary cry of the man on
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THE SEVEN SEAS
watch at night each time that the hour or half-hour is
struck on the ship's bell.
AN AMERICAN
Stanza i. Avatar. The earthly form in which a
deity or spirit manifests itself.
Stanza 4. Stoop — veranda. The word was intro-
duced into America, as it was into South Africa, by
early Dutch colonists. At the time when this poem
was written the average immigration into the United
States from various European countries was over
half a million per annum. It has become even greater
since then.
THE 'MARY GLOSTER'
In the last chapter of his book Master Mariners,
Mr. John Spears shows that the history of modern
shipbuilding is carefully followed in this poem.
Line 9. Master, i. e. master-mariner, the correct
designation of the officer in charge of a ship in the
British mercantile marine. Such an one is not, strictly
speaking, entitled to be called 'captain,' as this is a
title reserved for the Royal Navy.
Line 10. Freighters — cargo ships. A ship that
regularly carries passengers is a liner.
Line 18. Ran 'em or opened the bilge-cocks. The
effect of opening the bilge-cocks of a ship is to let
water into the hold. If left open the vessel will fill
and founder. Dishonest shipowners, finding that a
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THE SEVEN SEAS
vessel belonging to them is too old to be profitable or
in too bad repair to be worth mending, sometimes
instruct her master to find an opportunity of sinking
the vessel at sea in order that they may get the money
for which the ship is insured. The master who con-
sents to the crime must, of course, be liberally re-
warded, as he risks his life (and that of his crew) in
the first place, and secondarily risks his liberty if the
fraud should be discovered.
Line 31. Clippers. Clipper-built ships, properly
speaking, are sailing-ships built with bows raking for-
ward and masts raking aft. They are designed for
speed. At the time when sail was still competing
with steam for the mastery of the sea, clipper-built
sailing-ships carried cargoes — such as tea from China
and wool from Australia — the owners of which wished
to get their goods on the market as speedily as possi-
ble. The freights earned by the owners of such ships
was greater than that charged by slower vessels.
Some of the clippers made remarkably fast passages.
The Rainbow in 1843 sailed from London to Canton
in ninety-two days and returned in eighty-eight. In
i860 the Dreadnought ran from Sandy Hook across
the Atlantic to Queenstown in nine days seventeen
hours (cf. Captains Courageous, where her exploits
are sung). The Lightning established a world's record
by sailing 436 miles in one day of twenty-four hours,
which would be a good day's steaming for a modern
P. & O. boat. The average modern tramp-steamer
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THE SEVEN SEAS
steams about 200 miles in the twenty-four hours.
The passage here, however, refers to fast cargo-
steamers entitled to be called clippers on account of
their speed. The fastest sailing-ships could not be
depended upon to make such runs as those exceptional
ones mentioned above, and more reliable fast cargo-
steamers gradually took their trade.
Line 47. The Lines were all beginning. The
Cunard, the P. & O., and the Pacific SteamNavigation
Company started in 1840. There was no further
important development till 1850, when the Inman
line began. The Leyland started in 1851. The
Allan, the African Steamship Company, and the
Ocean Company began in 1852; the Union Steamship
Company in 1853 ; and the British India in 1855.
Line 50. . . . And a Social hall. This would
appear to have been one of the earliest names given
to the first room aboard a passenger liner which was
neither the Saloon nor the Smoking-room — ^the an-
cestor, so to speak, of all 'lounges', etc., of the mam-
moth modern liner.
Line 54. I'd given my orders for steel. The con-
struction of steel ships began between 1870 and 1875.
Between 1875 and 1880 twenty-six steel steamers
were built in the United Kingdom, and three hundred
and sixty-two iron steamers. In 1906 six hundred
and sixty steel steamers were built in Great Britain,
and only one iron steamer. In 1907 no iron steamers
were built at all.
169
THE SEVEN SEAS
Line 55. First expansions. In modern steamers
the cylinders are quadruple expansion.
Line 86. Galley. Ship's kitchen.
Line 128. Hundred and Eighteen East and South
just three. This point is in Macassar Strait, in the
channel between the Little Paternosters and Celebes,
a little to the south-east of the former.
Line 131. M' Andrew, he's chief of the Maori Line.
From 'M' Andrew's Hymn' it appears that M' An-
drew was once third engineer on the Mary Gloster;
later he was on a ship running out to New Zealand
via the Cape and homewards round the Horn.
Line 141. In Ballast — ^without cargo. Steamers
are ballasted with water in tanks (see note on 'Anchor
Song,' stanza 4, p. 142). A lively ship — a ship that
rolls and pitches a good deal.
Line 145. 'Ouse-flag. Thfe flag of Sir Anthony's
Company — presumably bearing the device of a Red
Ox.
Line 174. But I wouldn't trust 'em at Wokin'.
Sir Anthony had evidently purchased a family vault
from the Woking Necropolis Company, but had his
doubts of being able to regain his wife from a situation
so far inland.
Line 180. She trims best by the head. To trim a
vessel is to adjust her ballast so that she will float
upright. Sir Anthony means that the Mary Gloster
balances best when so ballasted that her bow is slightly
lower in the water than her stern.
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THE SEVEN SEAS
Line 185. Thatwas the after bulkhead. The bulk-
heads are the partitions between the water-tight
compartments of a ship. As a vessel sinks these
burst one after another with the pressure of water and
imprisoned air.
SESTINA OF THE TRAMP ROYAL
A sestina is a poem of six stanzas of six lines each,
with an envoy containing the author's parting words.
The line endings of the first stanza are the line endings
of each of the other stanzas but in different order.
This form of poem was first used by the troubadours.
It has been described as a dangerous experiment, on
which only poets of the first rank should venture.
WHEN 'OMER SMOTE TS BLOOMIN' LYRE
Stanza i. 'E went and took — the same as me.
Since Mr. Rudyard Kipling thus frankly admits his
indebtedness to the work of others, there is no
indiscretion in indicating a few of the phrases that
he has borrowed. The title Many Inventions is from
Ecclesiastes vii. 29, and several of these notes call
attention to passages in the Bible of which he has
made use. Traffics and Discoveries is part of the full
title oiHakluyt's Voyages — The Principal Navigations,
Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Na-
tion made by sea or overland to the Remote and Farthest
Distant Quarters of the Earth at any time within the
compasse of these 1600 Yeares. The words their lawful
171
THE SEVEN SEAS
occasions come in the general prayer for those at sea
in which security is prayed for 'such as pass on the
seas upon their lawful occasions' — a prayer obviously
designed to exclude pirates. Captains Courageous is
from Mary Ambree, Reliques of Ancient English
Poetry, vol. ii., where the words are spelt 'captaines
couragious.' A Fleet in Being was a phrase coined
by Admiral the Earl of Torrington. In a despatch
to the Council of Regency in 1690 he said that 'whilst
we had a fleet in being they (the French) would not
dare to make an attempt ' to invade. The phrase has
come to have a technical meaning, and is applied to a
fleet that has a certain definite degree of efficiency.
The key to the origin of the title Rewards and Fairies
is given in the first story of Puck of Pook's Hill.
Puck sings a song, the first line of which (though he
would not sing it, as he had an objection to the word
'fairies') runs 'Farewell Rewards and Fairies.' The
song was written by Richard Corbet, poet, bishop, and
boon companion of Ben Jonson. It would be im-
possible to catalogue all the government reports,
journals of learned societies, old records, etc., from
which Mr. Rudyard Kipling has drawn the material
for his stories.
'BACK TO THE ARMY AGAIN'
In the British army a man who has served his
time 'with the colours,' that is, has undergone a
period of service with his regiment, either in barracks
172
THE SEVEN SEAS
or on active service, is transferred from the active list
to the reserve. In the reserve he is free to follow
whatever occupation he likes and to live where he
likes, his only obligation being that he must return
to his regiment and his former duties when called
upon in a time of emergency. While in the reserve
he draws pay at the rate of 4d. a day. In some cir-
cumstances a man is allowed to continue with the
colours instead of joining the reserve, but as a rule he
is transferred whether he wishes it or not. The theory
underlying this regulation is that by keeping men
with the colours for short periods only, and then com-
pelling them to give place to fresh recruits, the largest
possible amount of men are trained to arms at a
minimum cost. A man is not allowed to re-enlist, for
by doing so he upsets the purpose of the regulation.
If he does re-enlist, therefore, he must fraudulently
pretend that he has not served before.
Stanza i. Ticky. Lousy.
Goose-step. The first drill taught to a recruit. He
has to stand on one leg holding out the other in front
of him until at the word of command he lowers the
latter and raises the former. The purpose of the drill
is to teach him to balance himself properly on his feet
as a first step towards teaching him to march in a
soldier-like fashion instead of shambling and shuffling.
A man undergoing the goose-step drill is apt to look
supremely ridiculous.
Stanza 2. Back pay. A lump sum of money
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THE SEVEN SEAS
given to a man on leaving the colours with which to
tide over the time between the cessation of his pay-
as a soldier on the active list and his finding some
civilian employment.
Right about turn. This apparently simple action
needs three definite movements — (i) the right foot is
drawn back till its toe touches the left heel, (2) the
body is swung round on the heels, (3) the left foot is
advanced so that its heel touches the heel of the right
foot. No one could do this in approved military
fashion without being taught to do so.
Stanza 3. Dress. Sidle up to neighbour. Dur-
ing marching-drill a space of about an inch is pre-
served between each man and his neighbour. When
the squad halts, lest there should be any gaps in the
ranks each man ' dresses by the left ' (or by the right
as the case may be), i. e. he moves to the left (or right)
until he can just feel his neighbour's sleeve touching
his own. As this must be done immediately a squad
is hahed, a trained man will do it instinctively,
whereas an untrained man, though he may reahse
that he ought to be nearer his neighbour, will not
know without being told whether he should sidle up
to the man on his right or the one on his left.
Stanza 4. 'Shun. If a command is to be obeyed
smartly it is necessary that the word of command
should be as short as possible. The command, 'at-
tention' — at which a soldier straightens his body,
brings his heels together, and adopts an attitude of
174
THE SEVEN SEAS
alertness generally — has therefore been boiled down
into the monosyllable ' 'shun.' No untrained recruit
could come to attention by the light of nature, for
the position necessitates that the head, knees, shoul-
ders, arms, hands, fingers, and eyes should each be
held in a particular way. If, therefore, a man who
pretends to be untrained comes to attention without
making a mistake in one or other of these particulars,
his pretence is fairly sure to be suspected.
Rookies. Recruits.
Carry an' fort. Two positions in which the rifle
is held. Carry — sloping across the body, and resting
in the hollow of the left arm. Port — held in both
hands across the body in such a position that the
breech may be examined by an inspecting officer.
Stanza 5. The Jumner. See note 'Troopin',
stanza 2, p. 43.)
Stanza 6. Slops — clothes. A soldier's uniform
is issued to him ready-made. He takes them to the
regimental tailor for necessary alterations.
Stanza 7. A swagger cane. A light cane carried
by all soldiers, except such as are required to carry
riding-whips, when out for a walk in uniform. Fash-
ion is rigid in the matter, each regiment having its
own pattern of cane with the regimental crest on
the handle. The Regulations do not require that
a man should carry a cane, but the unwritten law
of the army does. If a sergeant met a man out-
side barracks who was not carrying a cane, he would
^7S
THE SEVEN SEAS
probably tell him thaf he had not finished dressing
himself.
Stanza 8. 'Oo's there? 'Who's there,' or 'who
goes there,' is the regulation question put by a
sentry when challenging any one who approaches
him.
'BIRDS OF PREY' MARCH
Stanza i . Eyes Front. It is not considered seemly
for soldiers who are marching through a town to stare
about them. Should a man turn his head to look at
something he will be called to order by the nearest
sergeant with the command 'eyes front.' In passing
some one entitled to a salute, the command ' eyes right'
or 'eyes left' will be given. On a long march the
command 'open order' is given, when discipline of
this sort is relaxed.
Colour-casins. The waterproof covering of the
regimental colour or flag.
Stanza 2. Keep your touch. When a number of
men abreast wheel round a corner, the outside man
has to move faster than the inside man. This tends
to make the men separate, and to counteract this
tendency, each man should close in to his neighbour
towards the inside man, who is the pivot on which
they are wheeling.
Mark time. Keep the feet moving, btit without
advancing. Wheeling checks the normal speed of
the march. After the corner is well passed, therefore,
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THE SEVEN SEAS
the leaders mark time for a moment to allow the rear
ranks to close up.
Stanza 4. Slingers. Rolls of army bread dipped
in tea to make them more palatable when butter,
jam, etc., are not available. The following deriva-
tion is supphed by a gunner in the R. H. A.: 'It's
like this: at the canteen, when a man as can't sing
gets up to sing, the men takes an' slings slingers at
him.'
'Tween-decks. The lower deck on a troopship.
Stanza 5. Kit. Luggage.
Stanza 6. 'Eavy mar chin '-order. Carrying all the
kit that would be carried on active service — great-
coat, knapsack, water-bottle, mess-tin, haversack,
etc,
'Alt. Fall in. In mounting the gangway of the
troopship and passing along its narrow alley-ways,
the men have to break their ranks. Before they are
dismissed and assigned to their quarters on the ship,
therefore, they ' fall in' or re-form in line on the deck.
The pessimistic note of the last stanza is probably
largely due to dislike of the prospect of a long and
uncomfortable voyage on a densely crowded ship, and
the present discomfort and wearisomeness of march-
ing, halting, marching again, missing a meal, and
being generally 'messed about.' Those who regulate
the movements of troops seem to find it expedient, in
order to prevent any possibility of delay, to call them
out several hours before it is really necessary.
177
THE SEVEN SEAS
'SOLDIER AND SAILOR TOO'
Stanza i. The Ditch. The Suez Canal.
Regulars. The regular army troops, so called to
distinguish them from the now abolished 'Volunteers,'
or the existing 'Territorials.'
Jolly. A marine. The origin of the term is not
complimentary. The sailors gave the name to the
marines because they considered that their relative
importance as compared with the seamen was as
that of the yawl or 'jolly-boat' to the ship itself.
Marines are soldiers, either infantry or artillery, who
serve on board ship. The idea of sending soldiers to
sea originated in 1664, at a time when seamen in the
king's ships were pressed men, and, consequently,
badly disciplined — the function of the marines was
then to keep the seamen in order and to ' stiffen ' them
during an engagement. At sea the principal duty
of the marine is to mount guard in parts of the ship
where sentries are considered necessary. His fatigue
duties are much the same as those of the seamen.
Seamen of the Royal Navy do not consider the marine
officers hard worked. The answer to the naval riddle,
'Who works harder, the chaplain or the captain of
marines?' is 'The chaplain, because he does nothing
and has no one to help him, but the captain of marines
does nothing and has two officers to help him.'
Harumfrodite. Hermaphrodite, having a dual func-
tion.
178
THE SEVEN SEAS
Stanza 2. Cosmopolouse. Cosmopolitan.
Stanza 3. A double fatigue. (See 'The Young
British Soldier,' stanza 6, p. 41.)
Bernardmyo. A station in Burma named after
Sir Charles Bernard.
Procrastitues. Procrastinators, idlers.
Stanza 4. You may say we are fond of an 'arness-
cut, or 'ootin' in barrick-yards.
Or startin a Board School mutiny along
0' the Onion Guards.
Some little time before these verses were written
a regiment was guilty of organised misconduct and
was sent to Bermuda, a very unpopular station, as
a punishment. As the staple product of Bermuda is
onions, the regiment for a while got the nickname
of the Onion Guards. Harness-cutting is the usual
method adopted by soldiers who wish to call attention
to grievances, such as the issue of bad rations, of
which their orderly officers refuse to take notice.
Stanza 5. Cover. Something to protect one when
fighting, such as a rock, gully, wall, ant-hill, or tree-
trunk.
Birken'ead. In 1852 the troopship Birkenhead
went down between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape
Agulhas. She was loaded with troops for the ' Kaffir
War' against the Gaikas. Many of the soldiers on
board were youngsters who had never seen active
service, yet the conduct of all under exceptionally
trying circumstances was admirable. The Birken-
179
THE SEVEN SEAS
head was insufficiently provided with boats. The
men were paraded on deck to wait their turn to be
taken off, and when the ship sank, those who were
still on board preserved their formation, and cheered
as the ship sank. The report of their exemplary
conduct created a great impression in England and
on the Continent.
Stanza 6. The sinkin' Victorier. In 1893, when
the Mediterranean fleet was manoeuvring in two
columns off the coast of Syria, Admiral Tryon made
the signal for the course to be inverted, the ships to
turn inward in succession. During the execution of
the manoeuvre the Camperdozon collided with the
Victoria, Admiral Tryon's flagship, and sank her.
Admiral Tryon together with 355 officers and men
were drowned. The captain of the Camperdozon was
exonerated from blame, as he had carried out explicit
orders. Tryon had a reputation for ordering risky
manoeuvres, and it was pointed out at the time that
the facing of risk is an essential part of a naval
officer's training.
Widow. Her late Majesty Queen Victoria.
SAPPERS
The rank of sapper is the lowest rank in the Corps
of Royal Engineers, correspondingto private or trooper
in the infantry or cavalry. During the first half
of the nineteenth century there was a corps entitled
'The Royal Sappers and Miners'; it was distinct from
180
THE SEVEN SEAS
the Corps of Royal Engineers, but its officers belonged
to that corps. After the Crimean War the two corps
were amalgamated. The primary duty of a military
engineer is the construction of fortifications and siege-
works, but most of the work to which the growth of
science has given a military importance — such as
telegraphy, railway making, etc. — has been entrusted
to the Engineers.
Stanza 3. Fatigue. (See 'The Young British Sol-
dier,' stanza 6, p. 41.)
Stanza 9. The Line. Infantry, foot-soldiers (not
Guards) .
Stanza 11. Under escort. Much of the work of
the sappers must necessarily be done under fire. This
fire is checked as far as possible by an escort of rifle-
men stationed near where the sappers are at work.
Nevertheless it requires courage of a very high order
to proceed calmly at such work as the building of a
pontoon bridge, or blasting rocks, while bullets are
flying, without the satisfaction of retaliating.
Stanza 14. They grudge us adornin the billets of
peace. This is the soldiers' point of view. The
civilian opinion is given in 'Public Waste' {Depart-
mental Ditties).
Stanza 15. Our Colonels are Methodist, married
or mad. That the Engineers are Methodist, married
or mad, is an old saying in the army, the origin and
reason of which it is hard to trace. (Their 'madness'
is perhaps due to the fact that they have to pass
181
THE SEVEN SEAS
stiffer examinations than officers in other branches of
the army.) They are better paid and can therefore
afford to marry earUer. Some famous engineer offi-
cers, such as General Gordon, have been noted for
their piety.
THAT DAY
Stanza 2. Sove-ki-poo. Tommy's rendering of
the phrase * sauve-qui-peut ' (save himself who can).
Stanza 7. We was put to groomin' camels. With-
drawn from fighting duties and sent to the lines of
communication, where such necessary but compara-
tively safe duties as guarding convoys, handling
camels, etc., would be assigned to them.
'THE MEN THAT FOUGHT AT MINDEN'
Stanza i. Minden. A battle in the Seven Years'
War (1759) in which the French cavalry were routed
by British infantry.
Rookies. Recruits.
Maizvand. A disastrous battle in which a British
Indian Brigade was routed by Afghans. The Afghans
outflanked the Brigade, the artillery ran out of ammu-
nition, and the native portion of the British Indian
force got out of hand. The troops were scattered
and had to get back to Kandahar as best they could.
The battle and the retreat that followed are notable
for the many acts of daring and self-sacrifice per-
formed by individual officers and men.
182
THE SEVEN SEAS
Stanza 2. Fatigue it was their pride, and they
would not be denied
To clean the cook- 'ouse floor.
Besides parades, musketry practice, and other mili-
tary duties, soldiers necessarily have to do all the
domestic work, from weeding the barrack-yard to
carrying coals, that life in barracks necessitates.
Such non-military duties are called 'fatigues,' and
are exceedingly unpopular with the men (cf. Many
Inventions, in which Mulvaney's objection to being
told off to carry tents gets him into trouble). It may
be doubted whether the soldiers who fought at Min-
den were any fonder of fatigue duties than the soldiers
of the present day, but the old hand, who is here
advising recruits, is justified in holding them up for
admiration at the expense of strict historical accuracy.
Stanza 3. 'And-grenades. Hand-grenades were
weapons used in addition to other arms by some
British and foreign regiments during the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. They became obsolete in
the nineteenth century, but were used in the twentieth
by the Japanese during the siege of Port Arthur. It
was at one time the custom to form in each English
battalion a company of picked men to use grenades.
The Grenadier Guards have for their badge a bursting
grenade.
Clubbed their field parades. When a company
wheels in line if one man moves at the wrong pace the
whole line will be thrown out and 'club' or bunch in
183
THE SEVEN SEAS
the middle. Such an act of clumsiness would be a
greater offence, because more conspicuous, at a field
parade than at an ordinary parade.
Stanza 4. Grouse. Grumble.
Stanza 5. Musketoons. Clumsy, large bore, short-
barrelled match-lock guns.
'Alberdiers. Halberds — ^weapons that consisted of
a long staff that had at its end an elongated pike-head
with an axe on one side and a pick on the other — ^were
almost obsolete by the time Minden was fought.
They were still, however, carried by sergeants in some
infantry regiments.
Stanza 8. Rooks. Rookies, recruits.
Stanza 10. Core. Corps.
CHOLERA CAMP
Stanza 3. Nullahs. Water-courses, ravines.
Stanza 4. Under normal conditions a major com-
mands each wing of a battalion, a captain commands
a company — about 120 men — and a lieutenant half a
company. Lance in this case means a lance-corporal
(the lowest grade above private) acting as sergeant.
Eight file consists of eight men in the front and the
same number in the rear rank — sixteen in all — ^where-
as a sergeant should command a section of thirty men.
Stanza 6. Padre. Literally the Portuguese for
'father.' Applied by the Portuguese to their priests,
it has been adopted into the slang of the British army
for a clergyman of any denomination. While cholera
184
THE SEVEN SEAS
or other epidemic disease is about, it is the duty of the
officers to do their utmost to keep the men in good
spirits by organising camp concerts and other enter-
tainments (cf. 'Only a Subaltern' {Under the. Deodars),
in which Bobby Wick devoted himself to 'comforting
the panic stricken with rude speech, and more than
once tending the dying who had no friends . . .
organising, with banjos and burnt cork, sing-songs
which should allow the talent of the regiment full
play').
Stanza 8. 'Cause we've found it doesn't pay. It is
a recognised fact that the mind can influence the body
in resisting or giving way to disease. As an Irish
army doctor once said, 'If you tell a man what's
wrong with him he'll get it for a certainty.'
Last stanza. Flies. Parts of a tent that form a
second roof and thus increase its efficiency.
THE MOTHER-LODGE
The term 'Lodge' in freemasonry means the meet-
ing-place of a branch of the craft. Modern free-
masons are said to derive their organisation from the
craftsmen that raised English cathedrals and other
great buildings during the Middle Ages. When a
building was in course of erection a small temporary
structure was built close by in which stones, the
method of cutting which it was desirable to keep se-
cret, were prepared. In this structure, also, the
craftsmen had their midday meals and discussed
i8S
THE SEVEN SEAS
matters of interest to their guild. This building —
the name first occurs in 1370 — ^was called the loge.
And the term has thus in the course of generations
been amplified to mean not only the meeting-place
of a branch of the craft, but also the members of the
craft who assemble there.
Originally a freemason was taught that 'he must
love wel God and holy Church algate and hys master
also that he ys wythe.' Adherence to the Christian
Church is not now demanded, and membership of the
craft is open to men of every creed, caste, or colour.
Belief in the Great Architect of the Universe is, how-
ever, essential. The Lodge in which a freemason is
first initiated is called his 'mother-lodge.'
Stanza i. Conductor-Sargent. A warrant officer
in the Commissariat Department.
Europe-shop. A shop in which European products
of a miscellaneous kind, from sofas to patent medi-
cines, are sold. Such shops in India are usually kept
by Parsees.
Chorus. The Level and the Square are two of the
six jewels in a Lodge's regalia. The Level symbolises
the equality of all freemasons, and the Square sym-
bolises the honourable conduct required of them.
Hence the colloquial expression ' to act on the square.'
The other jewels are the rough ashlar, the perfect
ashlar, the trestle, and the plumb-line.
Junior Deacon. The fourth and fifth officers of a
Lodge are called deacons. It is their duty to receive
186
THE SEVEN SEAS
at the Lodge visitors as to whose standing as free-
masons no doubt arises.
Stanza 2. The principal races and creeds of India
as disclosed by their names are represented here.
Framjee Eduljee is a Parsee name; Bola Nath, that of
a Hindoo from the United Provinces; Din Moham-
med, that of a Mohammedan; Baby Chuckerbutty,
that of a BengaH; and Castro, an Eurasian who in-
herits his name, his rehgion, and the white element
in his blood from a remote Portuguese ancestor.
Stanza 3 . The Ancient Landmarks are the twenty-
five leading principles of freemasonry. One of these
is a sincere belief in the Great Architect of the Uni-
verse. Another is the recognition of the equality of
all freemasons.
Stanza 4. Labour. The solemn ceremonials, such
as initiations, which take place when a Lodge meets.
We dursnt give no banquits. Mohammedans and
Jews cannot eat meat the slaughter of which has not
been accompanied by certain ceremonies. A Hindoo
cannot eat meat that has been cooked by a man of a
lower caste than himself, and would feel insulted if
cooked beef were brought into his presence. Sikhs
will not eat meat or drink wine.
Stanza 5. Shiva. The third god in the Hindu
supreme trinity. He is The Destroyer, and as, ac-
cording to Hindu belief, death is admission to a
new form of life, he is styled the Bright or Happy
One.
187
THE SEVEN SEAS
Stanza 7. Trichies. Coarse cheap cigars made in
Trichinopoly in southern India.
Master. The highest of the three degrees in free-
masonry.
'FOLLOW ME 'OME'
Chorus. Swipes. Beer.
Note that the chorus runs roughly to the tune of
the 'Dead March in Saul.'
Stanza 3. Bombardier. An artillery non-com-
missioned officer ranking below a corporal.
Stanza 5. Stripe. The chevron awarded for good
conduct during two years' service, worn on the left
arm by private soldiers. The right to wear it
is accompanied by extra pay daily of id. for each
stripe. A quarter of a century ago the general
conduct of British soldiers was less good than to-
day. Then it was exceptional for a man to be able
to keep his stripe, now it is seldom forfeited for mis-
conduct.
Last two stanzas. A soldier who dies when with
the colours is entitled to a military funeral. His
coffin is carried on a gun-carriage and the band plays
slow music. Soldiers line the approach to the grave
leaning on their arms reversed, i. e. the muzzles of
their rifles pointed downwards. After the service
three rounds of blank cartridge are fired over the
grave and the bugler plays the beautiful long wailing
notes of the ' Last Post.'
188
THE SEVEN SEAS
THE SERGEANT'S WEDDIN'
Stanza 2. 'E's a bloomin' robber.
An '(? keeps canteen.
The canteen is the regimental beer-shop, open at
stated hours. It is part of the regimental institute,
and is run at a small profit, which is devoted to regi-
mental sports, purchases of newspapers for the read-
ing-room, etc. It is managed by a committee of
officers, but the actual care of it is entrusted to a ser-
geant. Thanks in a great measure to the efforts of
Lord Roberts, canteens are now better conducted,
but it was formerly possible for sergeants to make
extraordinary profits for themselves by giving short
measure and charging exorbitant prices for liquor
sold at unauthorised hours, practices which the sol-
diers' code of honour did not allow them to report.
Stanza 4. Side arms. Bayonets worn in sheaths
in the belts.
Dressin (see note ' Back to the Army Again,' stanza
3, P- 174)-
Stanza 5. Voice that breathed o'er Eden. The
first line of a well-known hymn frequently sung dur-
ing the marriage service.
THE JACKET
The incident recorded in this poem occurred in the
war against Arabi. It was not the first time that a
battery had charged. During the Peninsular War a
189
THE SEVEN SEAS
battery charged French cavalry and carried off the
French 'Eagles.' Since then it has been known as
the 'Eagle' troop, and carries an eagle on the metal
work of its harness.
Stanza i. Arahi. Ahmad Arabi, War Minister
and practically Dictator of Egypt in 1882, defeated
by Sir Garnet Wolseley at Tel-el-Kebir.
The Captain 'ad 'is jacket. Officers in the Royal
Horse Artillery are promoted from the Field Artillery.
An officer thus promoted will wear a very gorgeous
gold-laced tight-fitting jacket in place of the com-
paratively unadorned tunic that he wore in the Field
Artillery. When he is promoted, therefore, he is said
to 'get his jacket.'
The wettin' of the jacket. The celebration of his
promotion by providing liquor to be drunk by those
under him.
Stanza 2. A sand redoubt. An earthwork erected
to serve the purpose of a temporary fort.
Axle-arms. The lockers on the gun itself, in which
a supply of emergency ammunition is kept. The
main supply is carried in ammunition waggons, and
that for immediate use in the limbers.
Case. Case-shot, a projectile used for firing at
close quarters. It consists of a thin metal case con-
taining a large number of bullets which scatter when
the envelope bursts. It is now rarely employed, its
place being usually taken by shrapnel with the fuse
set at zero. Shrapnel is similar to case but with this
190
THE SEVEN SEAS
distinction: case-shot is not provided with a fuse, it
explodes on leaving the gun and is not therefore effec-
tive at any but short range (four hundred yards in
the case of field-guns) ; shrapnel, on the other hand,
is provided with a fuse by means of which the gunner
can burst his shells at any desired point from close
quarters up to three thousand yards.
Crackers. Ammunition.
Stanza 5. Loosin' 'igh an wide. Firing wildly
and without aim.
Glassy. Glacis, the long mound of earth thrown
up to offer cover to those in the redoubt. To get a
vehicle over such an obstacle it would be necessary
to drive it sideways up its face — hence the command
'right incline.'
Limherful. The two parts of a gun-carriage are the
gun itself and the limber in which ammunition for the
gun is carried.
Brut. The soldiers probably saw the last word on
the label of the champagne bottle and applied it to
the liquor generally.
THE 'EATHEN
Stanza 2. 'E drafs from Gawd knows where. Re-
cruits are enlisted at the regimental depots in England
which are situated within the area from which the re-
cruits are supposed to be drawn. After a period of
training they are * drafted ' to wherever the battalion of
the regiment to which they have been assigned maybe.
191
THE SEVEN SEAS
'E calls it bloomin' nonsense. Part of a private
soldier's duties is to submit his kit periodically to
inspection, so that any deficiencies may be noted and
replaced — at the soldier's expense. When laid out
for inspection, every article must be placed in a par-
ticular position, his clothes-brush in one place, his
needle and thread case in another. The reason for
this particularity is partly to teach the soldier to be
methodical — among the most important of the lessons
he must learn — and partly because kits may be in-
spected much more quickly and efficiently if arranged
according to a definite plan than if the arrangement
of each is left to the taste and fancy of its individual
owner. Nevertheless a recruit too inexperienced to
understand the reasons that underlie the regulations
he has to obey is apt to feel injured if he is reprimanded
for placing his boots in the particular spot that should
have been occupied by his razor. Because much of
the education of a recruit can best be instilled by his
comrades, a whole room full of men will be blamed
if the kit of one of their number is carelessly arranged.
Should this occur the men will probably find some
fairly effective way of reprimanding the delinquent
as soon as the inspection is over.
Stanza 3. 'E' II swing for. For murdering whom
he will be hanged.
Stanza 5. You 'ear 'im slap 'is boot. That is
with the swagger-cane which he is taught by regimen-
tal etiquette to carry. It is wonderful how much
192
THE SEVEN SEAS
self-confidence may be imparted to a shambling,
bashful man who does not know what to do with his
hands by giving him a cane to play with.
Bars and rings. The paraphernalia of the gym-
nasium in which the recruit has to exercise. Gymna-
sium exercise is as important as drill in making an
efficient soldier; a man who proves to be a poor shot
often improves after undergoing an additional course
of gymnastics.
Stanza 6. 'Lance.' Lance-Corporal. As such
the soldier still has the pay of a private only, but the
acting rank of a non-commissioned officer. During
his probation as lance-corporal he will show whether
he is fit to have his promotion confirmed.
Stanza 8. Colour-Sergeant. The senior sergeant
of a company of about one hundred and twenty men.
He is responsible for a good deal of administrative
work in connection with his company and on parade.
He escorts the regimental colour when this is carried.
Core. Corps.
Stanza lo. He'll see their socks are right. A
colour-sergeant, adequately to fill his position, should
have somewhat of the feelings of a mother towards
those under him. He should keep the cooks up to
their work, so that the men do not have to march on
an empty stomach in the morning. If his company is
mounted he should keep a look-out for sore backs
among the horses. No detail that makes for efficiency
is too trivial to receive the attention of a good colour-
193
THE SEVEN SEAS
sergeant. It was to a large extent the absence of this
maternal spirit in officers of all ranks that made
France so easy a prey to Germany in 1870.
Sight. Aim.
Stanza 11. Squad. Half a section of a company
of thirty men.
Stanza 14. Doolies. The canvas litters in which
the wounded are carried off the battlefield.
THE SHUT-EYE SENTRY
Stanza i . Orderly Orfcer. An officer is appointed
every twenty-four hours to be orderly officer for the
day. It is his duty at intervals during the night to
visit the various sentry posts in order to see that the
sentries are awake and alert, and to inspect the guard
in the guard-room or guard-tent. The men in the
guard-room, who take it in turn to mount guard, are
allowed to sleep, but must remain fully dressed so as
to turn out immediately the sentry on duty calls
them to do so. The orderly officer's rounds are
called 'visiting rounds.' An officer of higher rank
to the orderly officer is appointed to be field officer
for the week. While on duty he does not leave bar-
racks, and takes command in any emergency until
the arrival of an officer senior to himself. His rounds
of inspection are called 'grand-rounds.'
Hokee-mut. Very drunk.
For the wine was old and the night is cold. The
effect of cold fresh air on a man who has been drinking
194
THE SEVEN SEAS
incautiously in a warm room is often disastrous — im-
mediately he comes into the open he is liable to be
overcome by liquor the effect of which he has till then
hardly felt.
Rounds I What Rounds ? When the orderly officer
and his attendants come within earshot of a sentry
the latter challenges 'Who goes there?' The orderly
officer replies 'Rounds.' The sentry inquires 'What
rounds?' The reply is 'Visiting rounds' or 'Grand
rounds.' The sentry, if no password for the night
has been ordered, then replies 'Pass, visiting rounds;
all's well!' unless he is the sentry stationed at the
guard-room. In this case he will call 'Guard, turn
out,' and the guard will turn out for inspection.
Stanza 4. But 'is sergeant pulled him through.
Probably the sergeant prompted him as to the proper
words of command to issue, took care that the men
did not obey any improper order that he gave, and
shepherded his officer into his correct position of the
parade.
Marker. The markers are the soldiers who give
the alignment to the others.
19s
The Five Nations
BEFORE A MIDNIGHT BREAKS IN STORM
Stanza 3 . According to the late Andrew Lang, of
those who use the crystal-ball for purposes of divina-
tion, few have quite the same experience. In the case
of almost every one, the ball gradually assumes a
milky or misty appearance. Many people can go no
further than this. In the case of others the mistiness
gives place to blackness, followed by blankness, after
which pictures appear in the glass. In rare cases
the ball seems to disappear, and the gazer finds him-
self apparently witnessing an actual scene.
THE SEA AND THE HILLS
Stanza i. Comber. A 'breaker' is a wave that
breaks on a rock or beach. A 'comber' is a long,
curling wave that breaks out at sea.
The sleek -barrelled swell before storm. The influ-
ence of a distant storm is felt long before it arrives.
When the air is still quite calm the water begins to
heave. The waves in this case are not jagged or
foam-crested, as are wind-driven waves, but have a
smooth oily surface from trough to crest.
Stark calm on the lap of the Line. A belt of almost
196
THE FIVE NATIONS
constant calm extends from the equator to 3° north.
Stanza 2. The shudder, the stumble, the swerve as
the star-stabbing bowsprit emerges. The bowsprit is a
spar projecting from the ship's bows to carry the fore-
stay. No one unfamiUar with the sea can fully ap-
preciate the appropriateness of the words here used.
When a ship is struck by a wave it quivers under the
blow. Then the bow drops into the trough behind
the wave so suddenly that the ship seems to stumble
forwards. As the wave passes and the bow rises to
the next, the ship swerves from her true course (unless
the line of the waves is exactly at right angles to the
ship), because the weight of water on the one side is
greater than on the other.
The orderly clouds of the Trades. The Trade Winds
blow continuously towards the equator from each side
of it. The North-east Trade from 35° N. to 3° N.;
the South-east Trade from 28° S. to the equator.
A ship approaching the region of the Trade Winds can
see on the horizon masses of cloud that are collected
and driven by them.
Unheralded cliff-haunting fl,aws. Light wind that
blows off high land is very irregular, as its direction
and force is modified by the contour of the cliffs. It
comes in sudden gusts, seldom twice from exactly
the same quarter. The 'low volleying thunder' of
the sails occurs when an unexpected gust striking
them at the wrong angle shakes them violently against
the masts and sets the braces rattling.
197
THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza 3. The unstable mined berg going South,
and the calvings and groans that declare it. An iceberg
drifting southward melts more rapidly below the
water-line than above it. Its centre of gravity is
thus constantly changing, and at intervals the huge
mass of ice rolls over in a welter of foam. Sometimes
a large mass breaks off the parent berg, which is then
said to 'calve.' The rending growling noise that it
makes in so doing can be heard for a long distance.
In foggy weather — the vicinity of ice is usually foggy
— ^the noise sometimes gives timely warning to ap-
proaching ships.
White water half guessed overside. White water is the
seaman's word for the foam caused by waves break-
ing on a reef. (The patches of foam made by waves
breaking in deep water are called 'white horses.')
On a thick night, cloudy, dark, and rainy, white water
shows so dimly that those on watch are often not sure
whether they see it or only imagine it.
So and no otherwise — hillmen desire their hills. The
charm of the hills — ^their silence, their space, their
peace — 'the charm that in the end draws all who
have the least touch of hill-blood in their veins,' is the
theme of 'The Miracle of Purun Bhagat' {The Second
Jungle Book).
THE BELL BUOY
Stanza 4. Could I speak or be still at the Church's
will? In the mediaeval Church the Pope had the
198
THE FIVE NATIONS
power of laying a country under an interdict, the
effect of which was to suspend all public worship, the
administration of the principal sacraments, the eccle-
siastical burial of the dead, and, of course, to silence
all church bells.
Stanza 7. From bitt to trees. The bitts are posts
on the deck of a ship to which cables, ropes, etc., are
made fast. The trees (cross-trees) are horizontal
timbers at the head of the lower mast that support
the top-mast.
CRUISERS
Stanza i. Ourmother the frigate. During the Na-
poleonic Wars the frigate was a three-masted, fully
rigged vessel built for speed. Her duty was to scout
rather than fight, and also to attempt to decoy the
enemy's ships towards the heavier and slower and
more fully armed 'ships of the line' on her own side.
When iron took the place of wood in shipbuilding,
the frigate disappeared and the modern cruiser took
her place, a vessel very differently built but having
the same duty — to scout, and lure the enemy towards
her own supporting battleships. When this poem
was written (1899) cruisers had attained a speed of
20 knots and battleships 18. Since then cruisers of
the Dreadnought type have attained 28 and Dread-
nought battleships 22 knots.
Stanza 4. Merchant vessels are compelled by in-
ternational law to carry a headlight at the masthead
and a coloured light on each side, but warships on
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THE FIVE NATIONS
active service steam without lights. The term pot-
beUied is justified by the fact that the designer of a
merchant vessel, other than passenger liners, makes
cargo-carrying capacity his main object.
Stanza 8. Spindrift. Sprayblown from the crests
of waves.
Cross-surges. Waves set up by conflicting currents
or by a swift current at a different angle to the wind.
Stanza 9. Widdershins. (See note, 'Rhyme of
the Three Sealers,' line 142, p. 130.)
Fleereth. Jeers at. So military heliograph signal-
lers while waiting instructions sometimes pass the
weary hours by flashing chaff from hilltop to hilltop.
Stanza 10. Levin. Lightning.
Their lights, or the Daystar. A star rising above
the horizon may easily be mistaken for a ship's light.
DESTROYERS
A destroyer is a torpedo-boat destroyer. It is
larger and faster than a torpedo-boat, can carry more
guns, and can stay longer at sea without putting back
to port for a fresh supply of coal. Soon after de-
stroyers came into use it was realised that, in addition
to their intended work of destroying torpedo-boats,
they were more suited to do the work of torpedo-boats
than those boats themselves. They thus tended to
supplant the type of boat they were designed to
destroy. The speed of British torpedo-boat de-
stroyers varies. The Cobra (350 tons), launched in
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THE FIVE NATIONS
1899, had a speed of 34 knots; the Swift (1800 tons),
launched in 1907, a speed of 35 knots; the Beagle (860
tons), launched in 1909, a speed of 27 knots.
Stanza l. Stripped hulls . When a ship is cleared
for action everything that it is possible to remove
from the decks, such as boats, ventilators, etc., are
sent below and awning stanchions are laid flat on the
deck.
The Choosers of the Slain. In northern mythology
spirits of the air named Valkyries hovered over a battle,
choosing those who were to die and go to Valhalla.
In Hindoo mythology the same function is performed
by spirits called Upsaras (see note, 'With Scindia to
Delhi,' stanza 6, p. 92).
Stanza 2. Adown the stricken capes no flare —
No mark on spit or bar.
During war time a country that fears invasion re-
moves all buoys from the channels that lead to its
ports and extinguishes the lights of its lighthouses
and lightships. The destroyers must therefore do
their work blindfold.
Stanza 3. The up-flung beams that spell
The council of our foes.
Among the methods of signalling at sea practised by
warships is the flashing of light on to the clouds. By
covering and uncovering a searchlight long or short
flashes are made, and thus, by means of the Morse
code, messages are spelt out. The development of
wireless telegraphy tends to supersede this method.
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THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza 4. Hooded eyne. The searchlights which
the enemy is flashing on to the sea on the look out for
destroyers that may be approaching.
Stanza 5. Crackling tops. Battleships carry at
their mastheads platforms called 'tops' on which
quick-firing guns are placed. The noise made by
a quick-firing gun is very much like the crackle of a
newly-lit fire.
Stanza 7. Panic that shells the drifting spar. A
floating spar, suddenly seen in bad light, may well
be mistaken for a submarine emerging from the
water.
Stanza 8. Lance them to the quick. A metaphor
borrowed from whale-fishing. When a harpooned
whale rises to the surface exhausted, the whalers dash
in and spear it with long lances.
Stanza 9. Shut down! Shut down stokehold and
engine-room hatches preparatory to going into action
with forced draught.
WHITE HORSES
White horses. The name given to the patches of
white foam that are made by waves breaking out at
sea, as distinct from foam caused by waves breaking
on a beach or reef.
Stanza i. Sargasso weed. In the West Central
Atlantic, at a point where there is an eddy among the
great Atlantic currents, the surface of the sea is
covered by large patches of floating weed, called
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Sargasso weed, from the name of the sea in which it
is found.
Stanza 4. Ere yet the deep is stirred. (See note
on 'The Sea and the Hills,' stanza i, p. 196.)
Stanza 5- That rope us where we run. In the
early days of the settlement of the American prairies,
cowboys used to ride down herds or 'mobs' of wild
horses and catch the most valuable with the lasso.
Stanza 10. The moaning groundswell. The swell
set up by an approaching storm.
■ Bray. Crush to atoms as rock is crushed in a
mortar.
THE SECOND VOYAGE
This poem is an allegory of settled matrimony.
Stanza 2. The sea has shorn our galleries away.
Ships of the Tudor and early Stuart period had gal-
leries running round their sterns. Until a later date
sterns and bows were ornately carved and gilded.
All such unpractical additions and ornaments are
now obsolete.
Petrels. Mother Carey's chickens (see note, 'An-
chor Song,' stanza 2, p. 141). Petrels fly close to
ships in bad weather or when bad weather is brooding,
but are seldom seen in fine weather. Hence they are
usually called 'stormy petrels.'
Stanza 3. Quartermasters on board ship are ex-
perienced seamen to whom responsible work is en-
trusted.
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THE FIVE NATIONS
Port o' Paphos mutineer. Some unlicensed little
cupid sailing from Venus's own port, Paphos.
Stanza 5. Brace and trim. Alter the position
of the sails so as to get the fullest advantage of the
wind as it changes its direction.
The watch. A ship's company is divided into two
watches. At night-time one watch keeps the deck
while the other goes below to rest. Those whose
watch it is below are called up only when an emergency
requires all hands.
Stanza 6. Warp. Sailing vessels that have been
moored against wharves or quays are warped (or
hauled out into deep water), before their sails can be
usedjby means of hawsers attached to anchored buoys.
Hesperides. Islands of delight in Greek myth-
ology, situated where the sun sets in the ocean, in
which grow golden apples symbolising love and fruit-
fulness.
Saffroned. Saffron was used by the ancient Greeks
both as a dye and a perfume.
THE DYKES
This poem deals with the fate of those who have
forgotten how to hold the land that the toil of their
fathers won for them from the sea. The meaning
of the parable, intended to arouse a nation too well
satisfied with a sense of national security, is obvious.
Stanza 2. Sea-gate. The dykes that protect the
outer margin of land below high-water mark have
204
THE FIVE NATIONS
to be provided with gates to let off the constantly
accumulating water from inland as the tide falls, and
to shut out the sea as the tide rises.
Stanza 6. Saltings. Land behind a dyke where
brackish water sometimes stands; a term often applied
to pastures by the seaside.
Stanza 7. Ninefold deep . . . the galloping
breakers stride. An allusion to the popular and not
wholly unfounded belief that each ninth wave is
bigger than its eight predecessors.
Till the bents and the furze and the sand are dragged
out, and the old-time hurdles beneath. The first step
in the construction of a dyke is to lay down bents
(bundles of any stiff wiry grass), furze, etc., on a
foundation of hurdles. Wind-blown sand will bank
up against the furze, and gradually the dyke will be-
come firm enough to allow of its being more elabo-
rately strengthened. At last it will become so strong
that, so long as it is kept in repair, roads and even
railways may be laid along its top.
THE SONG OF THE DIEGO VALDEZ
Stanza 4. Careen. Ships need to be periodically
cleansed of the barnacles and weed that gather on
their sides and bottoms. In the old days crews of
ships far from port, or unable by reason of their
crimes to visit a port, used to find some natural har-
bour, and there, by placing their guns, ballast, etc.,
on one side of the ship, cause it to heel over so that
205
THE FIVE NATIONS
the other side was lifted sufficiently clear of the water
to be cleaned. This process was called 'careening.'
Stanza 5. Breaming-fagots. Fire was sometimes
applied to a ship's bottom to assist in the work of
cleaning it. This was called 'breaming.*
THE BROKEN MEN
Stanza 2. Until recently Callao, a port on the
Peruvian coast, afforded a haven to fraudulent bank-
rupts, those who had embezzled trust funds, and others
who were 'wanted' by the English police. Some
other South American republics, and some islands in
the Pacific that did not belong to any of the Great
Powers, were equally hospitable to men who would
have been sent to penal servitude at Dartmoor if they
had remained at home. The extension of extradition
treaties, however, has greatly restricted the area in
which criminals can escape the long arm of British
Law.
Stanza 5. The daily life of the average Peruvian
consists of work, not too strenuous, till noon, then
siesta, then, when the cool of the evening comes,
recreation.
Yuccas. Plants with bayonet-shaped leaves com-
mon in tropical America.
Jalousies. Sun-blinds made of split cane or wood.
Stanza 9. Lord Warden. The Lord Warden Ho-
tel, named after the ancient office of Lord Warden
of the Cinque Ports, stands near the pier and railway
206
THE FIVE NATIONS
station at Dover. It is therefore the first hotel that
offers refreshment, liquid or otherwise, to the return-
ing exile.
THE FEET OF THE YOUNG MEN
INTRODUCTORY STANZAS
Lodge. A Red Indian's wigwam or tent.
The Smokes of Spring. Cf . the account of the time
in the Indian jungle when 'all the smells are new and
delightful' in 'The Spring Running' {Second Jungle
Book).
II
Lee-boarded luggers. Lee-boards are boards fitted
to the sides of a flat-bottomed craft that on being let
down check her drift to leeward. They are hauled up
when the vessel is running before the wind.
Threshing. Beating to windward.
Ill
A gentle, yellow f irate. Though the Malays of the
East Indies were till recently pirates, they are no
more naturally blood-thirsty than a butcher is neces-
sarily brutal. They are in fact notably courteous,
and so gentle by temperament that they have a
horror even of sky-larking. They were pirates be-
cause piracy was their profession, just as the Sea
Dyaks, another very gentle people, were, until they
came under the rule of Rajah Brooke of Borneo, head-
207
THE FIVE NATIONS
hunters, not because they loved bloodshed, but be-
cause none of them could marry or enjoy the full
privileges of manhood until he had a skull of his own
providing to venerate, and because he believed that
the health and welfare of a new-born child necessi-
tated the presentation to its mother of a newly ac-
quired skull.
IV
Ovis Poll. The magnificent wild sheep of the
Pamir plateau, whose home is 16,000 feet above sea-
level. It is named after Marco Polo, who met with
it in the thirteenth century. Its horns, which are
very large and stand well out from the head instead
of curling round as in most sheep, are much coveted
by big-game hunters.
Spoor. A Dutch word adopted by African hunters
for an animal's footprints. Hunters read many signs
which the untrained eye might see without under-
standing. Thus if vultures are seen circling in the
sky it is an indication of lions round a carcass down
below. They would not be circling if they had not
seen a carcass, and they would not be wasting time
in the air if they were not afraid to descend.
THE TRUCE OF THE BEAR
This poem is held to have a political significance.
The bear is the totem of Russia, India's most power-
ful neighbour.
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THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza i. The pass called Muttianee. In 'The
Miracle of Purun Bhagat' {Second Jungle Book), Sir
Purun Dass, after becoming a mendicant, passed
through Simla and mounted the Himalaya-Thibet
road till 'he had put the Muttianee Pass behind him.*
Stanza 2. Adam-zad. Owing to the resemblance
between the anatomy of a man and that of a bear,
shikarris of Kashmir call the latter Adam-zad — the
son of Adam.
THE OLD MEN
Stanza 3. Plough the sands. The originator of
this futile performance was Ulysses. He had pledged
his word to join in protecting Helen if need should
ever arise. When he was called upon to redeem his
promise he did not wish to leave his wife. In the
hope that he would be regarded as insane, and there-
fore released from his obligation, he yoked a horse
and a bull together, ploughed the seashore, and sowed
salt instead of grain.
THE EXPLORER
As the scene of this poem might be laid in almost
any unexplored land in a temperate climate, the
colloquial expressions used are not those of any one
country. Some of them are primarily Australian,
such as 'station,' 'blazed,' 'ringed,' and 'Never-never
country.' 'Foothills,' 'trail,' and 'Norther' are
American expressions.
209
THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza i. Tucked away below the foothills where
the trails run out and stop. Foothills are the com-
paratively low hills that lie on the flanks of great
mountain ranges. A feature of such country, if it is
grazed by game or cattle, is that well-defined trails
lead from the drinking-places on the plains to the
bases of the hills, where they fade away. The ex-
planation of this is that pasture is better and sweeter
on the well-drained hillside than on the level alluvial
plains, where it is coarse and rank. Cattle therefore
graze for choice among the hills, and only come down
on to the plains to drink. As cattle naturally take
the shortest cut to water, moving in small herds in
single file and without spreading to feed, they make
well-defined paths from the grazing-grounds to the
drinking-places and back again. As they spread out
on returning to the grazing-ground these tracks do
not continue for any considerable distance beyond
the level, but become faint and shortly disappear.
Stanza 3. Pack. Gear such as blankets, cooking
utensils, food, etc., carried on a pack-horse.
The faith that moveth mountains. Cf. Matthew
xxi. 21: 'If ye have faith, and doubt not . . .
if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed,
and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.'
Whipping up and leading down. A good horseman
does not ride up and down steep pinches unless he is
in a great hurry. A horse cannot be easily led up a
steep place, as he hangs back and strains at the bridle.
210
THE FIVE NATIONS
It is better therefore to drive him from behind, urging
him when necessary. (A horse cannot kick when he
is on a steep slope, as he would lose his balance if he
tried to do so.) He will go down hill more willingly
and should therefore be led, lest on reaching level
ground he should take it into his head to gallop away.
Stanza 4. Headed back for lack of grass. A trav-
eller who takes horses for any considerable distance
must depend for their food on whatever pasture he
can find, as a horse will soon eat as much forage as
it can carry. If he finds himself on a long barren
stretch he will turn back to the nearest grass and
give his horses a long rest and time to lay up a store
of energy before facing it again. Where water is
scarce, however, he is sometimes in such a position
that, knowing how long it is since he last found water,
to go back would be certain death. He must then
go on at all costs, however slender may be his chances
of finding water on ahead.
Stanza 5. Norther. An American term for a
strong wind off the snows and accompanied by intense
cold. Sometimes it reduces the temperature 50° F,
in twenty-four hours. Originally used in Texas,
where it is a true north wind, it has been misapplied
to cold winds generally. (Cf. the use of the word
in 'The Merchantmen,' stanza 5, for the wind off the
Andes.)
Stanza 7. Flowers stand cold better than almost
any kind of vegetation except moss and lichens,
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THE FIVE NATIONS
They grow in profusion in the Arctic as well as at
high altitudes. Aloes need a higher temperature.
Thorn-bearing plants abound in dry or exposed windy
places, because as the giving off of water is one of the
chief functions of leaves, desert plants economise
their strength by producing thorns instead. Desert
plants, moreover, being slow of growth would quickly
be eaten down if their thorns did not protect them.
Stanza lo. White Man's Country. A country in
which white men can live, do manual labour and rear
families without physical degeneration. Countries
where this is impossible — such as the East Indies, the
PhiHppine Islands, India, etc., where the white man
is an aristocrat and directs the labour of coloured men
— ^have been called in contradistinction 'Sahibs'
country.'
Stanza ii. Chose my trees and blazed and ringed
'em. An explorer's easiest way of making rough land-
marks is to 'blaze' trees by cutting large, easily notice-
able squares in their bark. Where there is no timber
he makes cairns of stones (see stanza 15). Trees are
'ringed' (or ring-barked) by cutting a ring in the
bark right round the trunk. This stops the circula-
tion of the sap and kills the tree. Incidentally it
greatly improves the pasture below it.
Saul he went to look J or donkeys, and by God he found
a kingdom. Cf. i Samuel ix. 3-27, x. 1-24.
Stanza 13. Head. The unit of water-power.
Stanza 14. Tracked me by the camps I'd quitted,
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THE FIVE NATIONS
used the water-holes I'd hollowed. The marks of an
abandoned camp are principally the ashes of the
camp fire, dry grass or leaves that have been pulled
for bedding, and possibly firewood that has been
gathered but not used. A camp that has been used
for several days will also probably have the ruins of a
bough-shelter, and a framework of saplings erected to
support the billycan or kettle above the fire. Water
may often be obtained where none is visible by dig-
ging in the beds of apparently dry watercourses.
Stanza i8. Never-never country. A term applied
to the desolate wastes of central and northern Aus-
tralia, possibly because so many of the explorers and
prospectors who penetrated it in the early days never
came back.
THE BURIAL
Stanza 2. So brief the term allowed. Some years
before his death Rhodes, knowing that he had at best
but a few years to live (constitutional weakness had
driven him at the age of seventeen to seek relief in the
Natal climate) said, 'There are so many things I waiit
to do in South Africa, and I have got only so many
years to do them in.' His dying words were, 'So
little done: so much to do! Good-bye. God bless
you.' So little done! Rhodes extended British do-
minions from southern Bechuanaland to the shores of
Lake Tanganyika and was the determining factor in
retaining Uganda for the British Empire.
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THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza 3. Great spaces washed with sun> Rhodes
was buried at a spot chosen by himself in the Matoppo
Hills, and commanding a view — a valley set within an
amphitheatre of hills — ^which he declared to be the
finest view in the world. The majestic, silent rock-
crowned hills standing up above vast rolling downs
make a fit resting-place for the dreamer of great
dreams.
The Death he dared. Four months after the out-
break of the second Matabele War the natives with-
drew to a practically impregnable position in the
Matoppo Hills. Realising that they could be sub-
dued only at an immense cost to the lives both of
themselves and the British forces, Rhodes determined
to attempt to pacify them without further bloodshed.
He pitched his tent between the Matabele and the
British camp, sent a message to the former that he
wished to negotiate peace with them, and for six weeks
waited unguarded for a reply. The Matabele invited
him to attend a council in the depths of the hills
where no armed force could touch them. Rhodes,
accompanied by Dr. Hans Sauer and Mr. J. Colen-
brander, immediately rode unarmed to the appointed
place and successfully laid down the terms on which
he would agree to peace. So greatly did the per-
sonality of Rhodes impress the Matabele, that when
a bare-headed statue of him was erected in Buluwayo
they earnestly petitioned that it should be provided
with headgear, for they believed that until this was
214
THE FIVE NATIONS
done a drought would be caused by the heavens re-
fusing to rain on his image.
GENERAL JOUBERT
Petrus Jacobus Joubert, commandant-general of the
South African Republic from 1 880-1 890, was, in the
words of Sir George White, the defender of Ladysmith,
' a soldier and a gentleman, and a brave and honour-
able opponent.' Lord Roberts, writing to condole
with Kruger on the death of Joubert, said, 'His per-
sonal gallantry was only surpassed by his humane
conduct and chivalrous bearing under all circum-
stances.' In his public life Joubert was free from
corruption. On several occasions he urged the futility
of war against Britain, and had his counsels been
followed there would have been no war, tor he advo-
cated the redressing of the Uitlander's grievances.
Nevertheless he took command of the Boer forces on
the outbreak of hostilities. Before very long, how-
ever, his health failed him, and a month after the
rehef of Ladysmith he died. In the words of Presi-
dent Kruger, his political opponent, 'he died as he had
lived, on the path of puty and honour.'
THE PALACE
In countries that were once the seats of ancient
civilisations excavators often find that one town has
been built upon, and to some extent with, the ruins of
another, which in its day was built on the site of a
21S
THE FIVE NATIONS
still older town. In excavating the ruins of ancient
Babylon, for instance, Professor Koldeway had first
to clear away modern Arab dwellings. Beneath
these were Parthian habitations. The opening of the
next stratum revealed remains of Greek settlements.
At last, beneath a huge mound. Professor Koldeway
discovered the remains of a vast building, constructed
of large square tiles, cemented with asphalt, each of
which was stamped with the name of Nebuchadnezzar.
Stanza 2. Footings. Foundations.
Stanza 3. Quoins. Stones placed at the angle
made by two walls.
Ashlars. Dressed stones used in the facings of walls.
Stanza 6. Sheers. Appliances used for the mechan-
ical lifting of heavy weights.
SUSSEX
The wonderful charm of Sussex colours much of
Mr. Rudyard Kipling's later work. In 'The Knife
and the Naked Chalk' {Rewards and Fairies) are some
admirable pen-pictures of the Downs. The scenes of
'They' and 'Below the Mill Dam' in Traffics and
Discoveries, of 'An Habitation Enforced' in Actions
and Reactions, of many of the stories in Rewards and
Fairies, and of most of those in Puck of Pook's Hill,
are laid in Sussex.
Stanza i. And see that it is good. Cf. Genesis
i. 31: 'And God saw every thing that He had made,
and, behold, it was very good.'
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THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza 2. Levukas Trade. The trade-wind that
sweeps the Fiji Islands. Levuka is on a small island
between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. Until 1882 it
was the capital of the archipelago.
The lot has fallen to me. Cf. Psalm xvi. 7 (Prayer-
Book version) : 'The lot is fallen unto me in a fair
ground : yea, I have a goodly heritage.'
Stanza 3 (see note to 'A Three-part Song,' p. 277).
Stanza 4. The barrow and the camp. Barrows or
funeral mounds of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages
have been found at Bow Hill, Bury Hill, Bignor Hill,
Steyning, and other parts of Sussex. There are an-
cient British and Roman camps at the Devil's Dyke,
Ditchling Beacon, HoUingsbury Castle, Whitehawk
Hill, Mount Caburn, Rook's Hill, Cissbury, and
Chanctonbury. In several places the Romans occu-
pied camps that had been made many centuries be-
fore the Roman invasion by men of the Neolithic or
'new stone age' (see note 'Puck's Song,' stanzas 9
and ID, p. 275).
Stanza 6. Only the dewpond on the height
Unfed, that never fails.
At various points on the Downs are remarkable reser-
voirs made by men of the Neolithic or later Stone
Age. These are called 'dewponds,' because the
water they contain is the product not of springs but
of condensed dew. The making of a dewpond neces-
sitated much labour and care. An excavation was
made in the chalk on the hilltop and lined with dry
217
THE FIVE NATIONS
straw, on top of which was laid a layer of finely pud-
dled clay. The reservoir thus made rapidly filled
with water even when no rain fell. The explanation
of this phenomenon is as follows : During the heat
of the day the chalk becomes hot, but the clay, kept
from contact with the chalk by the layer of non-
conducting material, is chilled by evaporation from
its surface. The consequence is that during the
night the moisture of the comparatively warm air is
condensed on the surface of the colder clay. As con-
densation during the night is greater than the evapo-
ration during the day, the pond gradually fills (see a
fascinating book. Neolithic Dewponds and Cattleways,
by A. J. and G. Hubbard). If a stream finds its way
into the pond, the latter loses its power of condensing
dew owing to the straw becoming damp and ceasing
to act as a non-conductor. In the driest weather the
ponds are fullest. Thus 'unfed, they never fail.'
The following suggestion as to how our remote
ancestors stumbled on a principle in thermo-dynam-
ics is put forward by the writer of these notes for
what it is worth. Primitive man, knowing nothing of
the potter's wheel, moulded his pots on plaited straw.
Perhaps the makers of the dewponds, whose camps
on the heights were far from the natural water-supply
of the valleys, conceived the idea of making on the
hilltop a gigantic reservoir by the same method,
though on a far larger scale, as that by which they
made their pots, intending subsequently to fill it by
218
THE FIVE NATIONS
hand or leave it to be filled by rain. If this is what
they did, no doubt Nature intervened, when the
process was nearly complete, and filled the pond for
them. The authors of Neolithic Dewponds and Cattle-
ways believe these ponds, and the camps which adjoin
them, to be from 4000 to 6000 years old. The ponds
are protected by earthworks.
For a reconstruction of the life of those who made
the ponds, see 'The Knife and the Naked Chalk' in
Rewards and Fairies.
Stanza 7. Little lost Down churches. One of the
Down churches, that of LuUington under Winddoor
Hill, is probably the smallest in England. It stands
in a hollow a few yards from, but out of sight of, the
road. The inside area is about sixteen feet square,
and if crowded to its utmost it can hold about thirty
people. Traces of ruins in the churchyard show that
the church was formerly larger than it is at present.
The heathen kingdom Wilfrid found. In the seventh
century the kingdom of the South Saxons was to a
great extent cut off from neighbouring English king-
doms — on east and west by marshes, and on the
north by the forest of the Weald {Celtic Jndredsweald,
i. e. the uninhabited forest). The sloping beaches of
the coast made it also particularly liable to invasion
by pirates; It is natural, therefore, that heathenism
should have lingered longer in Sussex than in other
parts of England. A ship in which Wilfrid, Arch-
bishop of York, was sailing homeward from France
219
THE FIVE NATIONS
was driven ashore on the Sussex coast. The inhabi-
tants gathered to loot whatever might be washed
ashore, and one of their number began to practise
magical arts, designed to hasten the wrecking of the
ship. One of Wilfrid's men slung a stone at the
wizard and killed him, whereupon a fight began.
Wilfrid's men, one hundred and twenty in number,
held their ground so well that only five of them were
killed. The Saxons were preparing to attack the
third time when the tide, rising before its time, floated
the ship, and Wilfrid and his men escaped. About
twenty years later, Wilfrid, having been driven from
York, came as a missionary to the South Saxons.
According to Bede, no rain had fallen for three years.
Wilfrid relieved the famine that resulted by teaching
the people to fish. In gratitude for this they con-
sented to be baptized. On the day fixed for the cere-
mony rain fell in torrents, and the famine was ended.
St. Wilfrid established a monastery and cathedral at
Selsey, on a spot now covered by the sea. (See 'The
Conversion of St. Wilfrid ' in Rewards and Fairies.)
Stanza 9. Scarp. The steepest side of a hill.
On the Sussex Downs this is always the north side.
The long man of Wilmington. A giant figure, 240
feet long, cut in the turf on the northern slope of
Winddoor Hill. One tradition says that it is a work
with which a shepherd lad amused his idle hours.
Another says that it was made for some unstated
purpose by the monks of the neighbouring Benedic-
220
THE FIVE NATIONS
tine Priory of Wilmington. It has been suggested
that it is a representation of an ancient British deity.
Sea-forgotten walls. Since Plantagenet times the
sea has receded a mile and more from the old ports
of Rye and Winchelsea. Pevensey Castle, the walls
of which were formerly lapped by the sea, is now
nearly a mile from the nearest beach.
Stanza lo. Shazvs. Thickets or small groves on
a steep hillside.
Ghylls. Rocky clefts in the hillside forming the
course of a stream.
Sussex steers. Sussex has a breed of cattle of its
own. They resemble the better known Devon cattle,
but are larger, coarser, and of a deeper red colour.
SONG OF THE WISE CHILDREN
Stanza i . The darkened Fifties. The United King-
dom lies between latitudes 50° and 60° North.
And the day is dead at his breaking forth. Compare
this with the description of daybreak in the Bay of
Bengal, where 'the dawn comes up like thunder'
{Mandalay).
The Bear. The constellation that dominates the
northern skies.
Stanza 4. We have forfeited our birthright, i. e.
by leaving the land of sunshine.
Stanza 8. The wayside magic, the threshold spells.
One may sometimes see by the side of the road in
India an image that has been emblematically married
221
THE FIVE NATIONS
to a well. Sometimes a saucer containing sand, grain,
yellow cloth, and other things has been placed there
by some one who is ill, in the hope that a passer-by
by meddling with its contents will take the disease on
himself. If the saucer contain wine or cooked food
a ghost is to be propitiated. Sometimes one may see
a heap of earth, to which each passer-by contributes a
clod in honour of the god who protects wayfarers.
Once a year Hindoo women mark their houses with
lines of cow-dung and worship the serpent, the sym-
bol of eternity, with milk and parched grain. Every
morning in a Hindoo household the ceremony of the
Salutation of the Threshold is performed. A pattern
is drawn on the threshold in lines of powdered rice,
decorated at intervals with flowers. In many houses,
especially where there are young children or animals
liable to the evil-eye, the wall beside the doorpost is
marked with a representation of the sign of Ganesa,
the Swastika, or mystic cross, which is supposed to
represent the sun in its journey through the heavens.
A Swastika beside an elephant's head is stamped on
the covers of many of Rudyard Kipling's books.
BUDDHA AT KAMAKURA
An additional stanza to this ■poem appears as a
heading to Chapter III. of Kim {see note, p. 357).
Buddha is the name neither of a man nor a god.
The word is generally translated 'enlightened,' and is
a title applied to anyone who, 'by self-denying efforts,
222
THE FIVE NATIONS
continued through many hundreds of different births,
has acquired the ten cardinal virtues in such per-
fection that he is able, when sin and ignorance have
gained the upper hand throughout the world, to save
the human race from impending ruin.'
There have been over a million Buddhas in former
worlds. In this world there have been four, and there
is one yet to come.
The title Buddha is specifically apphed to Gau-
tama, the son of a Hindoo rajah of the military caste,
who renounced the world, became a prophet, and
taught the essentials of the creed that is now called
Buddhism, a creed based on Hinduism, but far nobler
and more enlightened. He lived in the fifth or sixth
century b. c. Gautama is believed to have had five
hundred and ten previous existences. Brahmans de-
clare him to have been the ninth incarnation of their
god Vishnu.
Kamakura, formerly one of the most populous
and powerful cities of Japan, the seatof theShogunate,
is now a mouldering hamlet. It contains many
Buddhist shrines, but there is in particular one giant
figure of the Buddha that is a masterpiece of statuary.
The following is from Lafcadio Hearne's Glimpses of
Unfamiliar Japan, published in 1894: —
'Here still dwell the ancient gods in the great si-
lence of their decaying temples, without worshippers,
without revenues, surrounded by desolations of rice-
fields, where the chanting of frogs replaces the sea-
223
THE FIVE NATIONS
like murmur of the city that was and is not . . .
The nearer you approach the giant Buddha, the
greater this charm becomes. You look up into the
solemnly beautiful face, and you feel that the image
typifies all that is tender and calm in the Soul of the
East.'
Stanza i. The Narrow way. Western theology rec-
ognises two spiritual paths: 'broad is the way that
leadeth to destruction ; narrow is the way which leadeth
unto eternal life.' Eastern theology, both Buddhist
and Brahman, recognises one path which the spirit
must follow through many successive lives, and per-
haps through many hells. In Buddhism the goal is
Nirvana — literally the 'dying out' in the heart of the
three cardinal sins, sensuality, ill-will, and stupidity,
which frees the soul from the necessity for rebirth.
Stanza 2. The Way. The following definition of
'The Way' is ascribed to Gautama Buddha himself: —
'There is a path which opens the eyes and bestows
understanding, which leads to peace, to insight, to the
higher wisdom, to Nirvana. Verily, it is this Noble
Eightfold Path: that is to say. Right Views, Right
Aspirations, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right
Mode of Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindedness,
and Right Rapture.'
The Law. The dogma set forth in the Four Noble
Truths; (i) that existence in any form involves
Suffering and Sorrow; (2) that the cause of suffering
is Desire and Lust of Life; (3) that the cessation of
224
THE FIVE NATIONS
suffering is effected by the complete conquest over
and destruction of Desire and Lust of Life ; (4) that
the path leading to the Cessation of Suffering is the
Noble Eightfold Path.
Maya. The mother of Gautama.
Ananda. A cousin of Gautama. He has been
called the 'beloved disciple' of the Buddhist story.
He was born at the same moment as Buddha, at which
moment also the sacred Bo-tree (see ' Buddh-Gaya, '
stanza 10, p. 228) sprang from the ground.
Bodhisat. A being destined eventually to become
a Buddha. Gautama was a Bodhisat until he at-
tained enlightenment. The Grand Lama of Thibet
is a Bodhisat who refuses to attain Buddhahood, in
order that he may continue to be born again and
again for the benefit of mankind.
Stanza 4. Joss-sticks. The Japanese reverence
Buddha by burning sticks of incense before his images.
These sticks are popularly called by Europeans 'joss-
sticks.' Joss is the pidgin-English word for a heathen
god. It is a corruption of the Portuguese word deus,
god.
Stanza 6. Contemning neither creed nor priest.
Buddhism enjoins Love, Sorrow for the Sorrows of
others, Joy in the Joy of others, and equanimity as
regards one's own joys and sorrows. 'Our minds
should not waver. No evil speech will we utter.
Tender and compassionate will we abide, loving in
heart, void of malice within.'
225
THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza 7. Every tale Ananda heard. This is a
reference to the Jatakas, the five hundred and forty-
seven tales of the successive Hves Uved by Gautama.
Most of them deal with occasions in which Gautama
was born as some form of animal. In Kim the Lama
tells a jataka in which Gautama is an elephant.
Planudes, who compiled the stories miscalled Msop^s
Fables, is supposed to have obtained much of his
material from such of the Jatakas as had reached
Europe in the fourteenth century. The story of
Sindbad the Sailor is based on the Jatakas. Boccacio
and Chaucer unconsciously borrowed from them, and
the ideas of the three caskets and the pound of flesh in
the Merchant of Venice are to be found in them.
Stanza 8. Htee. The golden top of a Buddhist
temple in Burma.
Shwe-Dagon. A Buddhist pagoda at Rangoon, the
centre of Burmese religious life. It stands on a hill,
and is in itself loftier than St. Paul's Cathedral. It
is covered from base to summit with pure gold, which
is renewed once in every generation. Ralph Fitch,
the first Englishman to see this wonder (in 1586),
wrote of it, ' It is the fairest place, as I suppose, that is
in the world.' In From Sea to Sea it is described as
' a golden mystery, a beautiful winking wonder.'
Stanza 9. The thunder of Thibetan drUms. The
beating of drums forms part of the worship of the
priests in Thibet, although anything in the way of
ritual was expressly discountenanced by Gautama.
226
THE FIVE NATIONS
Om mane fadme om is an invocation in Thibetan
Sanskrit. It is the prayer that is written or printed
on the Thibetan prayer-wheels ; on some it is printed
one hundred milHon times. It is the first prayer that
a child learns and the last that a dying man utters.
It is, in fact, the only prayer known to the average
Thibetan. It is addressed to the Bodhisat Padma-
pani, the patron saint of Thibet, and contains the
essence of all happiness, prosperity, and knowledge,
and the great means of deliverance. Each syllable
has its own special power in safeguarding the utterer
from rebirth. Om saves him from rebirth among
gods, ma among Titans, ni from rebirth as a man,
pad from rebirth as a beast, and me from rebirth in
hell. The meaning seems to be lost, but 'Hail to the
Jewel in the Lotus' or 'God the Jewel in the Lotus'
have been suggested as translations.
To an Oriental the incessant repetition of a formula
is not the futile performance that it appears to the
western mind. In 'The Miracle of Purun Bhagat'
{The Second Jungle Book), Purun Bhagat in his last
resting-place among the silence and the space of the
hills, 'would repeat a Name softly to himself a hun-
dred, hundred times, till, at each repetition, he seemed
to move more and more out of his body, sweeping up
to the doors of some tremendous discovery.'
Stanza lo. Brahmans rule Benares still. Brah-
mans are Hindoos of the highest caste ; though they
may follow various trades and professions, they are
227
THE FIVE NATIONS
fundamentally and hereditarily priests. Benares is
the great centre of that form of Hinduism which is
devoted to the worship of Siva, and it is there that
the lowest forms of Hinduism, grossest superstition
and inexpressible obscenities, are most apparent
to-day; forms of religion as opposed to the pure and
enlightened teachings of Gautama as any creed could
be. One of the four chief events in the life of Gau-
tama Buddha occurred at Benares — his first expound-
ing of his doctrines. As late as the seventh century
A. D. the city contained thirty Buddhist monasteries.
But Buddhism is now practically extinct not only in
Benares, but, except where it survives in the form of
Jainism, almost throughout India. It has become, how-
ever, the religion of thirty-five per cent, of the world's
inhabitants, and is the sole or principal religion of
Japan, China, Korea, Thibet, Burma, and Ceylon.
Buddh-Gaya, a few miles south of Gaya in Bengal,
is one of the most holy places of Buddhism. Here
grew the sacred Bo-tree under which Gautama sat in
meditation for forty-nine days, during which time
he did not bathe nor take any food yet did not ex-
perience the least want. Powers of evil and good
warred around him, and he was tempted in turn by a
demon in the shape of a young girl, one in the shape
of a young woman, and one in the shape of a middle-
aged woman. At the end of his meditation he came
to a perfect knowledge of the Law and thus became
Buddha ('Enlightened').
228
THE FIVE NATIONS
THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN
This poem was published in M'Clures' Magazine
(New York) shortly after the signing of the Treaty
of Paris (December lo, 1898), by which peace was
made between the United States of America and
Spain.
After her war with Spain the United States found
herself in a position such as had not arisen during the
course of her history. She had made war with Spain
with the object of freeing Cuba from the Spanish yoke
and without any intention of annexing that island to
herself. Her constitution was precise and made no
provision for imperial responsibilities. Yet to have
abandoned Cuba and the Philippines would have
placed these islands in a worse position than before
the war. Both on selfish and unselfish grounds it
was imperative that, in spite of her Constitution, the
United States should * take up the White man's bur-
den' of imperial responsibility and charge herself with
the care of the semi-civilised islands that she had
wrested from Spain. One splendid result of her as-
sumption of this responsibility is that yellow-fever,
which had been the curse of Cuba for centuries, has
been eradicated throughout that island.
Stanza 4. The ports ye shall not enter. By the
Treaty of Paris the United States undertook to hand
back Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico to their
own inhabitants after the expiration of ten years.
229
THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza 5. Why brought ye us from bondage.
Our loved Egyptian night ?
When the Israelites were hungry in the wilderness
they murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying,
'Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord
in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots,
and when we did eat bread to the full' (Exodus xvi.
2 and 3).
PHARAOH AND THE SERGEANT
Stanza i. In January, 1883, the year after armed
British occupation of Egypt, Sir Evelyn Wood was
given £200,000, and directed to spend it on raising a
force of six thousand soldiers from the native peasan-
try for the protection of Egypt. Though the Egyp-
tian fellah is unwarlike by nature, he has, when
trained and led by British officers, developed soldierly
qualities of an exceptionally high character.
Stanza 3. Coptics. Before the Mohammedan in-
vasion of Egypt the inhabitants who were Christians
spoke Coptic. Though their descendants have held
to their religion, they long since abandoned Coptic
speech and adopted the language of their Arab con-
querors.
Stanza 4. Cautions. To ensure that orders on
parade shall be carried out smartly by all the soldiers
in unison, the actual words of command are reduced
to monosyllables. Before the word is given the
sergeant will give warning by uttering the * caution.'
230
THE FIVE NATIONS
Thus he may say, pausing between the two words,
'Quick' — 'march.' The 'caution' in this case is the
word 'Quick.' 'March' is the actual word of com-
mand, for which the men will wait before moving.
A sergeant wishing to call his men to attention will
say 'Squad — 'shun.' 'Squad' is the caution and
' 'shun' (the word 'attention' concentrated) the word
of command.
Combed old Pharaoh out. A slang expression
equivalent to 'made him sit up.'
Gordon. The British Government delayed five
months after the siege of Khartum began before decid-
ing to take steps to relieve General Gordon. The
relieving force reached Khartum two days after the
garrison had fallen and Gordon had been killed.
Stanza 5. And he mended it again in a little more
than ten. The first severe test to which the re-organ-
ised Egyptian army was put was in the Dongola cam-
paign of 1896, when it did magnificent work against
the Sudanese dervishes.
Stanza 6. 'Tween a cloud of dust and fire. Cf.
Exodus xiii. 21 : 'And the Lord went before them by
day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and
by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light.'
OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS
On a most appropriate day, St. George's Day, in
1897, the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee,
the Canadian House of Commons gave a preference
231
THE FIVE NATIONS
to imports from the mother-country. Immediately
after the passing of the Bill a member of the House
struck up 'God Save the Queen.' The other mem-
bers joined in singing the hymn, after which the
House was adjourned.
Stanza 2. Not for the Gentiles' clamour. The
question was raised during the debate on the revision
of the tariff as to whether Germany and Belgium
would protest against Canada's giving a preference
to Great Britain. The reply of Mr. Fielding, the
Finance Minister, amounted to a statement that he
neither knew nor cared whether they would or not.
Stanza 4. A troubled year. The year 1896, in
which Sir Wilfrid Laurier inaugurated his proposal of
a preferential tariff in favour of the mother-country,
was marked by friction between the United States
and Great Britain over the Venezuela Boundary
question.
'ET DONA FERENTES'
The title is a quotation from Virgil's Aeneid, ii. 49.
The full line is 'Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et
dona ferentes ' (whatever it may be, I fear the Greeks
even when they bring gifts), and is spoken by Laocoon
with reference to the wooden horse which the Greeks
left outside the walls of Troy.
Stanza i. The Four-mile radius is that part of
London which lies within four miles of Charing Cross
station.
232
THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza 2. Pentecostal crew. On the day of the
Pentecost (Acts ii. 4) the apostles 'began to speak
with other tongues.'
Stanza 3. St. Lawrence, while being burnt alive
on a gridiron, joked with his executioners, saying, 'I
am roasted enough on this side; turn me round and
eat.'
Stanza 6. Nous sommes allong a notre haiteau,
nous ne voulong pas un row. This is French (not of
the purest Parisian variety!) for 'We are going to our
boat, we don't want a row.'
Stanza 10. Aas-vogels. Afrikander-Dutch for vul-
tures.
KITCHENER'S SCHOOL
Stanza i. Hubshee. A corruption of the Arabic
Hahashi. The word originally meant an Abyssinian,
but is now applied in India to any African or to any
one with woolly hair. It is also applied to a woolly-
haired horse, generally esteemed unlucky.
Carry your shoes in your hand. In British India
a visitor to a temple, mosque, or friend's house always
leaves his shoes at the door. Cf. Exodus iii. 5. The
Lord commanded Moses, saying, 'Put off thy shoes
from off thy feet.'
Emirs. Commanders or governors of provinces.
The Emirs of the Sudanese Provinces revolted from
the authority of the Khedive of Egypt and gave their
allegiance to the Mahdi in 1883. After the Mahdi's
' 233
THE FIVE NATIONS
death they were commanded by the Khalifa until de-
feated by British and Egyptian troops under Sir Her-
bert (afterwards Lord) Kitchener in September, 1898.
Stanza 2. The tomb ye knew. The tomb of Ma-
hommed Ahmed ibn Seyyid Abdullah, who had
claimed to be the Mahdi (lit. 'hewho is guided aright'),
and who had been recognised by his followers as
divinely appointed to regenerate Islam. On Septem-
ber I, 1898, Kitchener's troops were within reach of
Omdurman, and the Mahdi's tomb was shelled by
howitzers at 2,300 yards range. The tomb was re-
garded as a sacred shrine, and its destruction was
intended to have, and had, a moral effect, as the Su-
danese dervishes held that its safety was necessary
to theirs. On the following day the dervishes, about
35,000 in number, streamed out of Omdurman and
advanced to the attack. Though they fought mag-
nificently they were routed by noon, and soon after-
wards the Anglo-Egyptian army entered the town.
Stanza 4. Letter by letter, from Kaj to Kaf. A
pun of the favourite Oriental kind is contained in the
expression from Kaf to Kaf. The phrase means ' from
world's end to world's end.' (Kaf is the name of a
mythical girdle of mountains that surrounds the world
and keeps the earth's carpet from being blown off by
the winds.) Kaf is also the letter of the Arabic alpha-
bet which corresponds to the English K, the initial
letter of Kitchener and of Khartoum.
Openly asking the English for money to buy you
234
THE FIVE NATIONS
Hakims and scribes. Hakims are teachers of medi-
cine or philosophy. On November 30, 1898, Lord
Kitchener made an appeal to the pubUc to found and
maintain with British money a college bearing the
name of the Gordon Memorial College, 'to be a pledge
that the memory of Gordon is still alive among us,
and that his aspirations are at length to be realised.'
The College was founded at Khartoum, and young
men from all parts of the Sudan are now being edu-
cated there. In the Wellcome Tropical Research
Laboratory, which is attached to the Gordon Mem-
orial College, dervishes who fought against us at
Omdurman have actually been trained to use the mi-
croscope and join in the war, waged for the benefit
of mankind, against tropical disease.
THE YOUNG QUEEN
Stanza l. Bright-eyed out of the battle. The Com-
monwealth of Australia was inaugurated during the
progress of the South African war, in which the Im-
perial Forces received very material assistance from
Australian troops.
Stanza 2. The Hall of Our Thousand Years.
Almost exactly one thousand years before New Year's
Day, 1901, died Alfred, King of the English, who laid
the first stone of the structure that was destined to
become the British Empire.
The Five Free Nations — England, Canada, Aus-
traha, New Zealand, South Africa.
THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza 3. The Leeuwin. The cape of south-
western Australia that catches the full force of the
swell from the great Southern Ocean. The other side
of Australia, the north-east, is protected for a thou-
sand miles by a coral reef, the Great Barrier Reef.
Stanza 5. The pearls of the Northland. Thursday
Island, to the north of Cape York, is the centre of the
Australian pearl-fishery.
Gold of the West. Australia produces about one
quarter of the world's supply of gold, and of this more
than half comes from Western Australia.
Her lands own opals. A large proportion of the
world's supply of opals are found in Queensland and
New South Wales.
Levin. Lightning.
Stanza 7. Child of the child I bore. Federated
Australia as a whole was the result of the union of all
Australia, which was planted and settled by England.
RIMMON
After Naaman, the Syrian, was healed of his leprosy
he promised Elisha that he would henceforth 'offer
neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but
unto the Lord,' but asked pardon in advance for
bowing in the house of Rimmon when he had to attend
the king in his worship of the idol (2 Kings v. 17 and
18).
Stanza 6. Cf. i Kings xviii., in which Elisha
mocks the priests of Baal and suggests that the reason
236
THE FIVE NATIONS
their god does not hear them may be that he is talking
or hunting, or asleep or on a journey.
THE OLD ISSUE
October 9, 1899, was the day on which the South
African Republic presented its ultimatum to Great
Britain.
Stanza i. Trumpets in the marshes — in the eyot
at Runnymede. It was on an eyot or small island in
the Thames, between Staines and Windsor, that King
John very reluctantly signed the Great Charter, one
of the provisions of which was ' to none will we sell or
deny or delay right or justice.' The barons who thus
brought him to his knees had their camp on Runny-
mede, a marshy flat opposite the island.
Stanza 2. Trumpets round the scaffold at the dawn-
ing by Whitehall. Charles i., another king who never
could learn, reiterated his conviction a moment before
his execution on the scaffold before the Banqueting
House at Whitehall, that the people had no right to
a share in the government. *A sovereign and a
subject are clean different things.'
Stanza 3. He hath veiled the Crown and hid the
Sceptre. Paul Kruger, though nominally President
of a Republic, was an autocrat by instinct, and, so
far as intrigue against either the British or against
Thomas Burgers and Piet Joubert, his own fellow-
countrymen, could make him so, an autocrat in actual
fact. 'This is my country,' he said to a deputation
237
THE FIVE NATIONS
of Uitlanders who petitioned that the English lan-
guage should be legahsed in the Transvaal. 'These
are my laws. Those who do not like to obey my
laws can leave my country.'
Stanza 7. Grey-goose wing. Goose-feathers were
used by the English archers for their arrows.
Stanza 8. How our King is one with us, first
among his peers. Monarchy in England has always
been limited in theory, if not in practice. A Planta-
genet king was not an absolute monarch, but the chief
and leader of the peers of the realm ('peers' strictly
means ' equals ') . In those days none but the nobility
were of any importance so far as government was
concerned. During the Wars of the Roses the barons
broke each other's power so effectively that when
peace was re-established the Tudor kings were able
to make themselves practically absolute, and as
they combined tact with their despotism few re-
sented the change. When the Stuarts tried to rule
despotically without tact, the English, this time the
commoners, established for all time the principle
that the king is the servant and not the master of his
subjects.
Stanza 19. He shall rule above the Law calling
on the Lord. President Kruger professed, and quite
possibly sincerely believed himself, to be the object
of special Divine guidance. When he set aside the
laws of the land, he persuaded himself that he had \J
Divine sanction for so doing. "■
238
THE FIVE NATIONS
BRIDGE-GUARD IN THE KARROO
Stanza i. Oudtshoorn ranges. Mountains in the
Little Karroo Desert in Cape Colony.
Stanza 4. Picket. A body of men placed at a
short distance from camp to protect points of
importance or to detach sentries to posts of obser-
vation.
Stanza 5. Details. Small miscellaneous bodies
of men detached from their corps. Men charged with
the duty of guarding a bridge on the line of commu-
nication, but far from the actual war area, undergo
all the discomforts of active service added to the
tedium of deadly monotony. If the unexpected hap-
pens they may be called upon to fight at any time
— otherwise they would not be there — but the chances
of fighting are remote. They have therefore the very
hard task of performing a duty from which every
element of interest and every chance of distinction
seem to be eliminated.
Stanza 10. Ties. The wooden 'sleepers' that
hold the railway lines in their places.
Stanza 13. During the South African War some
of those whose business led them to travel by train in
the war areas, remembering the loneliness of those
who guarded communications, carried with them
bundles of newspapers for distribution along the line.
Such newspapers, and the few occasional moments'
chat with passengers on the trains, were the only
239
THE FIVE NATIONS
means of contact with the outside world enjoyed by
those who guarded the lines of communication.
THE LESSON
Stanza i. Knocked higher than Gilderoy's kite.
There is no evidence that the original Gilderoy ever
had a kite. He was a sturdy law-breaker, hanged
long ago at Edinburgh — on higher gallows than those
of other criminals, as a sign tTiat his crimes were
greater. He was hanged so high that he looked like a
kite in the air.
'Of Gilderoy sae fraid they were
They bound him mickle strong,
Till Edenburrow they led him thair
And on a gallows hong;
They hong him high above the rest.'
To be hanged higher than Gilderoy's kite has come
to mean to be punished with exceptional severity.
iStanza 2. From Lamberts to Delagoa Bay, and
from Pietersburg to Sutherland. These places mark
respectively the westernmost, easternmost, northern-
most, and southernmost limits of the South African
War area.
Stanza 4. That horses are quicker than men afoot.
One of the first and most important mistakes made on
the British side was the pitting of foot-soldiers against
riflemen who were without exception mounted; and
one of the most valuable lessons that the British
240
THE FIVE NATIONS
learned from the war was the value of mounted infan-
try.
THE FILES
One of the most wearisome of a journalist's duties
is to grub for information as to some past and half-
forgotten event through the masses of newspapers
that accumulate month by month and year by year
in a newspaper office. If he is uncertain of the date
of the occurrence to which he wishes to refer, he must
hunt through one dusty file after another, backwards
and forwards, till he finds what he seeks. The te-
dium of the task is occasionally relieved by the interest
of lighting upon records of occurrences long since
forgotten, that were obviously considered of tremen-
dous importance when they took place.
Line 12. Faenza. An Italian town that has had
many masters. The reference is to Browning's
'Soul's Tragedy,' the scene of which is laid in Faenza.
Ogniben, the Papal Legate, says, ' I have known four
and twenty leaders of revolts' (in Faenza). There is
a pun on the word 'leader,' which in journalistic lan-
guage means the principal article in each issue of a
paper.
Lines 18 and 19. Kensall Green and Pere-la-Chaise
are two huge cemeteries, the former in London, and
the latter in Paris.
Lines 32-34. Long primer, brevier, and minion are
the names of three different sizes of type used in print-
241
THE FIVE NATIONS
ing a newspaper. A prominent man who outlives his
importance in the public eye will have his actions
chronicled at first in long primer, the type used for
the most important pages of the newspaper; later they
will be noticed on one of the less important pages for
which brevier, a somewhat smaller type, is used. At
last he will be honoured only by a short 'para,' i. e.
paragraph, printed solid — that is, the lines close
together instead of 'leaded' or spaced out as in
the more important parts of the paper — in minion,
the smallest type in general use and at the bottom
of a column.
Line 36. Leaded. The opposite of solid (see pre-
ceding note).
Line 37. Triple-headed. Recorded in a column
prefaced by three headlines. Even the most sensa-
tional English newspapers seldom have more than this
number of headlines to a column, but three would be
quite a moderate number for many American news-
papers.
Line 43. Bomba. The nickname given to Ferdi-
nand II., King of the Two Sicilies, after he authorised
the bombardment of the chief cities of Sicily in
1849-
Line 44. Saffi. An Italian patriot, and a col-
league of Mazzini in the triumvirate to which the
government of Rome was entrusted during a few
weeks of 1849.
Line 6j. Samuel Smiles. The author of Self-
242
THE FIVE NATIONS
Help — his most popular work — and books entitled
Character, Thrift, and Duty, as well as biographies
of various successful men, the purpose of each of
which was to teach the reader how to get on in the
world.
Lines 73 and 74. These two lines are taken bodily
from the works of Dr. Thomas HoUey Chivers of
Georgia, author of The Lost Pleiad. Circa 1840.
Conchimarian horns. Conches, trumpets made of
sea-shells.
Reboantic. Bellowing.
Norns. In northern mythology divine prophetesses
who foretold the destiny of new-born children.
Line 79. Brocken-spectres. Shadows of men enor-
mously magnified cast on banks of clouds. The
phenomenon, first noticed on the Brocken, may be
seen under certain atmospheric conditions in high
mountain regions when the sun is low.
Lines 84 and 85. 'Quod ubique.
Quod ab omnibus means semper!'
These words are part of what is called the motto of
St. Vincent, an ecclesiastical writer of the fifth cen-
tury, who defines the Catholic faith as 'quod ubique,
quod semper, quod ab omnibus, creditum est' (that
which everywhere, that which always, and that which
by all men must be believed). The lesson taught by
the files is that that which is believed everywhere
{ubique) and by all {ab omnibus) is not necessarily
believed for all time {semper).
243
THE FIVE NATIONS
THE REFORMERS
This poem was published in the Times on October
i2th, 1901. Two days eariier Sir Redvers Buller, at
a pubHc luncheon, had made a spirited reply to the
Press criticisms on his conduct of the earlier part of
the war in South Africa.
DIRGE OF DEAD SISTERS
Stanza 2. Let us now remember many Honourable
Women. Cf. Ecclesiasticus xliv. i, 3: 'Let us now
praise famous men . . . such as did bear rule in
their kingdoms.'
Stanza 7. Blanket-hidden bodies, flagless. At the
height of the typhoid epidemic in Bloemfontein it
was not always possible to secure one or other of the
regimental funeral flags to put over the corpse, which
was therefore carried to its grave wrapped in a blanket
only.
Stanza 9. Them that died at Uitvlugt when the
plague was on the city. Cape Town was visited by
epidemic plague in 1901-2. The hospital and isolar
tion camps were at Uitvlugt, on the Cape Flats, some
five or six miles out of the city. Two of the nurses on
plague duty contracted the disease and died there.
Her that fell at Simon's Town in service on our foes.
This is a tribute to the memory of Mary Kingsley,
niece of Charles and Henry Kingsley, and herself dis-
tinguished as an intrepid explorer, a scientist of parts,
244
THE FIVE NATIONS
an acute observer, and a writer of peculiar charm.
At the age of thirty-two she made her second journey-
to West Africa to collect scientific data on fresh-water
fishes, as well as information with regard to native
law and customs. During this tour she explored the
country of the cannibal Fans, being the first Euro-
pean to enter their country, suffering much hardship,
and running considerable risk of losing her fife. Her
books on West Africa are remarkable in that though
they deal ably and authoritatively with scientific sub-
jects, the information they contain is presented in
so light and humorous a style that the dullest reader
could not fail to enjoy them. She was preparing for
a third journey to West Africa when the South African
War broke out, and she went to the Cape as a hospi-
tal nurse. While tending Boer prisoners at Simon's
Town she died of enteric fever (according to one
account — other accounts say that she died of black-
water fever, a little understood disease, the seeds of
which may have entered her system when she was
in West Africa). Throughout her life she set a high
example of sound sense, chivalry, and courage. Her
funeral was in accordance with her own wishes. Her
body was carried on a gun-carriage to a torpedo-boat,
which took it out to sea and committed it to the deep.
THE ISLANDERS
Line i. No doubt but ye are the People. In these
words Job sarcastically answered his critics. *No
24s
THE FIVE NATIONS
doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die
with you' (Job xii. 2).
Line 12. Ye grudged . . . your fields for their
camping-place. A serious difficulty which hampers
the training of troops in England arises from the
limitations of the space over which troops may
manoeuvre. Private landowners, especially those
who preserve game, will not allow their land to be
used for the purpose. Troops on manoeuvres are
therefore obliged to keep very largely to roads. All
land over which they are not allowed to pass is, for
the purposes of the manoeuvre, supposed to be swamp
land or some other impassable obstacle. Under these
conditions it is impossible to handle troops as they
would be handled in actual warfare, and the efficiency
of both men and officers is impaired in consequence.
There are districts, such as Salisbury Plain, where
troops can manoeuvre unrestricted, but as officers
get to know these districts by heart, the educational
value of training there is not what it would otherwise
be.
Line 21. Sons of the sheltered city. (See note on
'Two Kopjes,' stanza 3, p. 260.)
Line 28. And ye sent them comfits and pictures.
The late Queen Victoria sent in December, 1899, a
Christmas present consisting of a box of chocolate
to every British soldier in the field. The gift
was most highly appreciated, partly on sentimental
grounds, partly because of the excellent sense shown
246
THE FIVE NATIONS
in choosing the gift. Men Hving on such food as is
issued under active service conditions have a craving,
caused by abstention from fresh vegetables, for sweet
food. Chocolate not only satisfies this craving but
is a concentrated food of high value. Since it suited
the taste of all, chocolate was more suitable as a gift
than tobacco or anything else that could have been
sent. The Queen's example set a fashion, and for a
while the troops received a bewildering succession
of presents — pipes, cigarettes, Balaklava caps, etc.
In some cases it seemed obvious that those who paid
for these presents exercised no supervision over the
contractors who supplied them, for some of the goods
presented to the soldiers were so poor in quality as to
be practically useless, and certainly not worth car-
riage from England to the front.
Line 30. The men who could shoot and ride. Very
soon after the war had begun, the authorities recog-
nised the need of the assistance of frontiersmen, such
as the Boers themselves. The offers of the different
colonies to send troops were therefore accepted, and
the towns of Cape Colony and Natal were placarded
with advertisements inviting those who could ' shoot
and ride ' to join one or other of the irregular corps
(The Imperial Light Horse, Thorny croft's Mounted
Infantry, and many others) that were raised to meet
the emergency.
Line 59. Ye say, 'It will minish our trade.'
Nevertheless the following theories prevalent in Ger-
247
THE FIVE NATIONS
many with regard to conscription bear on the British
National Service problem: Conscription increases the
earning power of the community because the security
ensured by a strong army attracts capital : it increases
the earning power of the individual, because men who
have undergone training are stronger in body and
more intelligent than untrained men of the same class:
it has been estimated that the life of a trained man is
on the average five years longer than that of one who
has not been trained.
Line 77. Teraphs — idols. Sept — a subdivision of
a tribe.
THE PEACE OF DIVES
The name Dives does not occur in the English
Bible, but is taken from the Vulgate translation of the
Gospels, where the word is used,' not as a proper name,
but for the 'certain rich man' {quidam dives) who,
being in hell, pleaded that Lazarus might be allowed
to bring him water. Luke xvi. 19-31. The theme
of this poem — ^that those who control the world's
money markets 'decide between themselves how, and
when, and for how long king should draw sword
against king, and people rise up against people' — is
also the theme of 'The Treasure and the Law' {Puck
of Pook's Hill).
Stanza 3. Goshen. That part of Egypt which
was inhabited by the Israelites when they lived in
Egypt.
248
THE FIVE NATIONS
Gadire. The country of the Gadarenes, near the
Sea of Galilee.
Stanza 7. Habergeon. A coat of mail.
Stanza 16. Ancient Akkad. One of the cities of
Nimrod (Genesis x. 10), and the principal city of
Sargon i., King of Babylon (3800 b. c), who carried
his conquests from the Euphrates to the shore of the
Mediterranean.
Islands of the Seas. Cf. Isaiah xi. 11: 'From As-
syria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from
Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from
Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.'
Stanza 17. Ashdod. A city of the Philistines
(i Samuel v. i), situated on the military route between
Syria and Egypt. It was captured by the Assyrians
in 711 B. c. (Isaiah xx. i) under a later Sargon, who
assumed the name of his famous predecessor on seiz-
ing the throne of Babylon.
Stanza 18. Is not Calno like Carchemish? Cf.
Isaiah x. 7, 8, 9: 'It is in his heart to destroy and cut
off nations not a few. For he saith, Are not my princes
altogether kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish.?'
Calno is supposed to be Calneh (Genesis x. 10 and
Amos vi. 2), one of Nimrod's cities on the east bank
of the Tigris, a place of considerable commercial im-
portance. Carchemish was a town on the Euphrates.
It was the Hittite capital in the Bronze Age, but was
lost to the Hittite Empire before the periods at which
it was mentioned in the Bible. Necho, King of
249
THE FIVE NATIONS
Egypt, took it from the Assyrians (2 Chron. xxxv. 20),
and Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, took it from
Egypt (Jeremiah xlvi. 2).
Stanza 19. Hast thou seen the pride of Moab?
Cf. Jeremiah xlviii 29 and Isaiah xvi. 6.
Gaza was the chief stronghold of the Philistines.
Askalon and Gath were respectively the westernmost
and easternmost towns of Philistia.
THE SETTLER
Stanza 3 . Here will we join against our joes. In
no country is economic organisation, such as irriga-
tion and the provision on a large scale of the means of
combating the diseases that attack crops and herds,
more necessary than in South Africa. Under the Boer
rule little was done in this direction. Irrigation on a
small scale was practised by some of the Boer farmers,
but South Africa needs irrigation on a larger scale than
can be undertaken by private individuals. The Boer
governments did little to promote irrigation, and were
backward also in taking measures to check diseases
among cattle and sheep and to kill off the swarms of
locusts that periodically ravage the country, many
Boers, members of the Legislature, considering that
to do so would be an unrighteous attempt to interfere
with Providence. One of the results of the South
African War was that the establishment of a progres-
sive government made possible economic organisation
on a large scale.
250
THE FIVE NATIONS
CHANT PAGAN
Chant pagan. The original meaning of the Latin
■paganus was a 'villager' or 'rustic,' but it came to
mean a light armed irregular soldier, enrolled for
temporary service, as opposed to miles, a fully en-
rolled soldier.
Stanza 2. Kopje on kop. Kop is Afrikander-
Dutch for a mountain, and kopje for a hill.
'Elios (see note, 'A Code of Morals,' stanza i, p. 9) .
Stanza 3. Ma'ollisberg. Magaliesberg Mountains,
west of Pretoria. General De la Rey used the range
as a hiding-place from which to make sudden attacks
on the British.
Stanza 4. Barberton. A town in the eastern
Transvaal enclosed by precipitous mountains. When
General French took it he crossed these mountains by
means of a goat track so steep that he had to put six-
teen horses instead of six to each field-gun. He sur-
prised the Boers by arriving at Barberton two days
before they expected him.
Di'mond 'III. Diamond Hill was an indecisive
battle lasting two days (June nth and 12th, 1900), in
which a large number of troops on both sides were
engaged. Its effect was to save Pretoria from the
danger of an attack from General Botha. The total
forces engaged numbered twenty thousand men.
Pieters. The capture of Pieter's Hill (27th Febru-
ary 1900) was the last of the series of engagements
251
THE FIVE NATIONS
on the Tugela River by means of which Ladysmith
was relieved.
Springs. A village east of Johannesburg, where
General Dartnell had an engagegjent with the Boers
on the first day of General French's organised
'drive.'
Belfast. An action fought on 26th and 27th Au-
gust, 1900, in which Lord Roberts defeated General
Botha, whose troops dispersed in the bushveld to the
north of the Middleburg railway.
Dundee. Here the first action of the Boer War in
Natal was fought, on 20th October, 1899. The Boer
army surprised a small British force and compelled it
to retreat towards Ladysmith.
Vereeniging. Here the Articles of Peace were
signed on 31st May, 1902.
Five bloomin' bars on my chest. The speaker would
have both the King's and the Queen's medals for the
Boer War. With the latter medal he would have
the following clasps : Talana, for the &®ion at Dundee;
Tugela Heights, for the action at Pieter's Hill; Relief
of Ladysmith, for the general series of actions of which
Pieter's Hill was one; Diamond Hill, and Belfast.
'Ands up. A captured man holds up his hands in
token of surrender.
That state of life to which it shall please God to call
me. A quotation from the Church of England
catechism.
Stanza 5. The place where the Lightnin's are made.
252
THE FIVE NATIONS
Sudden and very violent thunderstorms are a feature
of the South African cUmate. >
B'randwater Basin. A horseshoe shaped valley in
the Drakensberg Mountains. Here over four thou-
sand Boers were surrounded and captured by General
Sir A. Hunter, from whom, however, Generals de Wet
and Steyn cleverly escaped.
Stanza 6. Trek. An Afrikander-Dutch word
meaning 'draw.' Hence the word is the starting
signal given to his oxen by a Boer waggon-driver. To
'trek' thus comes to mean in particular to travel by
waggons, and in general to travel by any method.
Where there's neither a road nor a tree. A descrip-
tion which fits a great part of South Africa.
M. I.
Stanza i . A fence post under my arm. As there
is very little or no timber in many districts of South
Africa, those who fought in the Boer War were often
hard put to it to find fuel with which to cook their
food. A soldier who when out on patrol came across
a fence post would therefore regard it as a valuable
find, and he would carry it away even though he were
several miles from his camp or next halting-place.
A sore-backed Argentine. Many of the horses im-
ported for the South African War came from the
Argentine Republic.
Stanza 2. Chronic ikonas. A mixture of Cockney
and Afrikander slang. The word 'chronic' among
2S3
THE FIVE NATIONS
Cockneys has many uses. A soldier may describe the
weather, or his commanding officer, or his food as
' bloody chronic,' and in such cases the interpretation
is left to the choice of the hearer. In this case the
word is used to give emphasis to the word that follows.
'Ikona' (pronounced aikorner) is an Afrikander word
which means anything from simple 'no' to 'no you
don't, my boy.' The language is ' Kitchen- Kafir,' a
manufactured dialect which enables Englishmen and
South African Kafirs to meet each other half-way,
each party thinking that it is speaking the other's
language. The word is in general use in South Africa,
even between English-speaking people. An M. I.
trooper who strolled into a neighbour's horse-lines
on the lookout for a remount (see stanza 6) would
probably be greeted by a shout of 'ikona' from any
one who saw him and suspected his motives. As the
M. I. learned 'to steal for themselves' as efficiently
as marines (see 'Soldier and Sailor too,' The Seven
Seas), the word would often be shouted at them.
Hence the nickname.
Stanza 3. Veldt-sores. A kind of sore that in
various parts of Africa, from the Cape to the Soudan,
attacks men whose blood has been made thin by lack
of proper food. The sore is liable to break out wher-
ever the skin is broken. In a mounted man it occurs
most frequently on the bridle hand, as a horse, worried
by flies, constantly jerks the rein forward and knocks
its rider's left hand against the pommel of the saddle.
254
THE FIVE NATIONS
The things I've used my bay' nit for. The bayonet
is a most useful tool. It may be used for chopping
wood, digging drains to carry off rain-water from the
ground around a tent, opening tins of meat or sardines,
or cutting up a sheep. It may be used to take the place
of a tent-peg, and it makes an admirable candle-stick.
From the Vaal to the Orange, etc. The Vaal River
separates the Transvaal from the Orange Free State.
The Orange River forms the southern boundary of the
latter State, and the Pongola is in the east of the
former State. The Mounted Infantryman of this
poem is quite under a false impression in believing
that his duties ever took him anywhere near the
Zambesi River, which lies far to the north of the
Boer War area.
Stanza 4. Push. Gang.
Stanza 5. Our Adjutant' s^ late oj Somebody's' Or se,'
an a Melbourne auctioneer. Troops became very
mixed during the latter part of the South African War.
An officer who returned from hospital or from some
special duty, to find that his regiment was scattered
in detachments over a large area, that no one could
tell him the precise whereabouts of any one detach-
ment, and that there was no one in particular for him
to report himself to, often attached himself to the
first available column that seemed in need of his
services. In the story 'A Sahib's War' {Traffics and
Discoveries), an officer in the Indian army, who had
been attached to a remount depot in Cape Colony, is
255
THE FIVE NATIONS
sent up to the front, and forgetting to return is 'stolen'
by an Australian irregular corps.
Stanza 6. Beggin' the loan of an 'ead-stall arC
makin' a mount to the same. A dismounted man in a
mounted corps is not only useless but a nuisance.
Until he can get another horse to replace the one he
has lost through illness or otherwise, he has to march
on foot with the waggons of his corps, and misses any-
thing that may be going. Naturally, whenever he
falls in with another mounted corps he endeavours to
take steps to render himself a useful soldier again.
The Mounted Infantryman would deny that it was
stealing to take a horse from the horse-lines of another
corps. If asked whence he had got a horse found in
his possession he would say that he had 'made' it —
a very common euphemism among those who are not
punctilious as to methods of acquiring property.
Footsack. Afrikander slang for 'Go away.'
Stanza 8. Cow guns. Heavy guns drawn by
teams of bullocks.
Convoys. Trains of waggons loaded with supplies
for the front and guarded by men both on foot and on
horseback.
Mister de Wet. A Boer general who displayed an
extraordinary genius for guerilla warfare. On many
occasions the British troops surrounded him, closed
round him, and found at the last that he had somehow
contrived to escape. He remained at large until the
conclusion of the war.
256
THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza 12. Mausered. The Boer forces were
armed with the Mauser rifle ; the British with the Lee-
Metford.
Five-bob colonials. Five shillings a day was the
pay of a trooper or private in the various colonial
corps that were raised for the South African War.
COLUMNS
Stanza i. Trekkin'. (See note, 'Chant Pagan,'
stanza 6, p. 253.)
Detail supply. A store established at the war end
of the line of communications to which mobile col-
umns resort when necessary for the replenishing of
their stores.
A section. A section of an artillery battery con-
sisting of two guns and four ammunition waggons.
A pompom. A Maxim automatic quick-firing
gun, firing a i lb. shell, used for the first time by
the Boers in the South African War, and sub-
sequently adopted by the British. Its name — ^at
first merely a nickname, but afterwards seriously
adopted — arose from the noise of its report: pom-
pompompompom, etc.
Stanza 3. Where do we lay? Troops have to
make their beds on ground assigned to them. It may
be on ploughed land, which is soft and dirty, especially
in rainy weather.
Stanza 4. The tin street. In South Africa the
roofs of almost all houses, and even the walls of
2S7
THE FIVE NATIONS
many, are made of sheets of galvanised iron, com-
monly known as 'tin.'
Stanza 5. The outspan. In every South African
village an area of land is reserved on which visitors to
the village may 'outspan' {i. e. unyoke) their oxen.
The owner of the waggon usually sleeps in it during
his stay in the village instead of putting up at an hotel.
Stanza 8. 'Untin' for shade as the long hours pass.
The mobile columns of the later South African War
had to dispense with such luxuries as tents. When
one was halted during the middle of the day the men
used to seek relief from the burning sun by making
tents with rifles for poles, blankets for canvas, and
bayonets and jack-knives for tent-pegs. It was
always hard to decide whether the stuffiness of the
improvised tent was more or less bearable than the
full glare and heat of the breezier open.
Stanza 9. Dossin. Sleeping.
Beatin' a shirt. Among the hardships of the war
was the unavoidable prevalence of vermin in the cloth-
ing of men of every rank. Whenever opportunity
oflfered, men turned their shirts inside out and en-
deavoured to get rid of the lice and their eggs that
infested the seams.
Stanza 12. 'Orse-guard. The men who during
the halt have been herding the grazing horses.
Stanza 13. Alpha Centauri. A star of the first
magnitude in the southern hemisphere. It is the
nearest star to the earth.
258
THE FIVE NATIONS
Somethin' Orion. The constellation Orion consists
of three stars of the first magnitude, four of the second,
and many of inferior magnitude. They are distin-
guished by letters of the Greek alphabet : alpha Ori-
onis, beta Orionis, etc.
Stanza 21. Stoep. Veranda of a house.
Kraal. The word is applied in South Africa both
to an enclosure for sheep, cattle, etc., and also to a
group of native huts. It is often supposed to be a
native word, but as a matter of fact comes from the
Portuguese corral.
THE PARTING OF THE COLUMNS
Stanaa 2. Doubled out. Came out 'at the double,'
a military expression for 'at the run.'
Stanza 4. Bloeming-typhoidtein. A portmanteau
word of which the ingredients are 'Blooming,' 'Ty-
phoid,' and ' Bloemfontein,' where the British forces
suffered severely from typhoid fever. Some Cock-
neys have a genius for the construction of such port-
manteau words. A word, particularly the universal
adjective, is often sandwiched between the beginning
and the end of another word to give it emphasis,
e. g. ' absobloodylutely.'
Stanza 6. Mouse and caribou (reindeer) are Cana-
dian. The parrot that peeks lambs to death is
the Kea parrot of New Zealand. Ranch is a Cana-
dian word for a stock farm; run is its Australian
equivalent. The towns mentioned are in Eastern
259
THE FIVE NATIONS
and Western Canada, New Zealand, and New
South Wales.
Trek. (See note, 'Chant Pagan,' stanza 6, p. 253,)
Stanza 8. Dorps — towns. Dawson is the capital
of the Yukon territory in Canada. Galle is a port in
Ceylon from which many tea-planters went to serve
in South Africa. Port Darwin is in the Northern
Territory of Australia. Timaru is a little seaport
town in New Zealand.
Stanza 9. Drift. Ford of a river.
Kraal. (See note, 'Columns,' stanza 21, p. 259.)
TWO KOPJES
Stanza i. Kopjes. Hills.
Stanza 3. Only baboons — at the bottom.
Only some buck on the move.
Baboons do not come down from the kopjes to the
flats below except at early morning and at late eve-
ning unless frightened by some one moving among
their usual haunts. Nor do buck move during the
heat of the day unless disturbed. Baboons at the
bottom of a hill and buck on the move at mid-day
are therefore signs that mean a lot to a scout.
Only a Kensington draper. London civilians were
represented in the South African War by the C. I. V.'s
— the City Imperial Volunteers. As they had had
very little military training and no previous war ex-
perience, and being town-bred men had no bushcraft
whatever, they had practically no knowledge of the
260
THE FIVE NATIONS
art of scouting. They therefore made many mistakes,
anecdotes of which afforded much amusement for
those who stayed comfortably at home. An unkind
story which went the round of the newspapers may
be quoted as an example. The commander of a
Boer column captured a member of the C. I. V. whom
he had captured several times before. He communi-
cated with the officer commanding the column to
which his prisoner belonged, offering to exchange him
for a bale of forage. This offer was refused on the
ground that the terms demanded were exorbitant!
Knock-out. A defeat. In boxing the term is used
for a blow that renders the man who receives it unable
to continue the fight.
Stanza 4. Simmering. Appearing to quiver ow-
ing to the motion of the heated air.
The kopje beloved by the guide. Many of the guides
locally picked up by the British columns often en-
deavoured to lead them into traps.
Stanza 5. • ^ bolted commando. The Boer forces
were divided into groups named commandos. The
art of drawing an enemy on by a feigned retreat was
brought to perfection by the Boers in their wars with
the Kaffirs.
By sections retire. If a force were to retire all
together the result might be disastrous. Panic might
spread and in any case the enemy, having no one to
face them, could afford to discard all precautions,
leave their cover and stand up to fire on the retreating
261
THE FIVE NATIONS
body. An orderly retreat should therefore be con-
ducted ' by sections' : a portion only of the company
retires for a short distance (the others remaining to
cover its retreat), and then takes cover and opens fire
on the enemy in order to cover the retreat of the other
sections. The sections thus take it in turns to retreat
or stand their ground until all have withdrawn.
Stanza 7. Voorloopers. A voorlooper is a man or
boy who leads the leading pair of oxen in a waggon-
team.
Stanza 8. The Staff. A set of officers to whom
general {i. e. non-regimental) duties are entrusted.
In the field these include the planning of operations,
the collection of information, etc.
BOOTS
The first four words in each line of this poem should
be read slowly, at the rate of two words to a second.
This will give the time at which a foot soldier nor-
mally marches.
There's no discharge in the war. Cf. Ecclesiastes
viii. 8: 'There is no man that hath power over the
spirit to retain the spirit ; neither hath he power in the
day of death: and there is no discharge in that war.'
THE MARRIED MAN
After service with the army private soldiers are
transferred to the Reserve, that is to say they are free
to follow any civilian occupation they choose, but
262
THE FIVE NATIONS
must return to their regiment when called upon for
active service. The great majority of the rank and
file have to wait until they are in the Reserve before
they can marry. During the South African War all
the reservists were called out.
LICHTENBERG
Lichtenberg is a pretty little village in the Western
Transvaal, built round a market square. Little
streams flow down the streets, and until General De
la Rey's attack on the place on March 2nd, 1901, a
profusion of trees shaded the houses. These were cut
down in order to make the place more easy to defend.
Some time after the war a group of men in a New
Zealand club were discussing Rudyard Kipling's ac-
curacy. One man referred to this poem, and declared
positively that there was no wattle in Lichtenberg.
An argument followed, and the point was referred to
a man present, an Australian, who had been to Lich-
tenberg. The Australian declared the first speaker
to be wrong. He said that on a rainy day in Lichten-
berg he had smelt wattle though he could not at first
see any. Later, when opportunity offered, he had
searched for it and found one small wattle-bush in
full flower.
The wattle of Australia, the doorn-boom of South
Africa, the babul of India, and the acacia (which by
masonic ritual is thrown into a Brother's grave) are all
of the Mimosa family.
263
THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza 2. Sold-out-shops. The shops in most
small towns in the war area sooner or later became
empty, as it was impossible to get fresh stocks of goods
up from the coast owing to the railways being fully
occupied with the carriage of war materials.
STELLENBOSH
Stellenbosh is a town near Cape Town. During
the early part of the South African War it was used
as a remount camp, as horses and mules thrive there.
Officers who attracted the unfavourable notice of the
Commander-in-Chief were sent there to perform the
safe and uninteresting duties associated with a base
camp. In consequence the expression 'to be stellen-
boshed ' came into use, and was applied to any officer
who was relieved of responsible duty at the front and
given a less onerous task beyond the war area.
Stanza i. Told 'im off. Reprimanded him.
The Staff. (See note on 'Two Kopjes,' p. 262.)
Stanza 2. The drift. Ford.
The last survivin bandolier an boot. During the
last stage of the South African War the Boers, having
little enough food for their own use, did not care to
embarrass themselves with prisoners. To supply
their own deficiencies, however, before releasing their
prisoners they took away their arms, ammunition,
and clothes, sometimes giving them in return a hand-
ful of tobacco, to show that there was no personal ill-
feeling.
264
THE FIVE NATIONS
Stanza 3. Stoep. Veranda.
The Boer commandos in the later part of the war,
knowing the country intimately and not being tied to
supply-bases, were exceedingly mobile, and again and
again slipped through the lines of columns that were
closing upon them.
Stanza 4. 'Elios. Heliographs, signalling instru-
ments that catch and flash sunlight (see note 'A Code
of Morals,' stanza i, p. 9).
Pompom. A quick-firing automatic gun, or in this
case the projectiles discharged from it (see note,
'Columns,' stanza i, p. 257).
Krantzes. Steep hillsides.
K. C. B. The order of a Knight Commander of the
Bath. The honour is given as a reward for military
and (more seldom) civil service.
Stanza 5. D. S. O.s. Distinguished Service Or-
ders given in recognition of military merit. Some
critics, who considered that these orders were not
distributed with proper impartiality, suggested that
they were awarded to Duke's Sons Only.
HALF-BALLAD OF WATERVAL
Waterval is a village fifteen miles north of Pretoria.
There the Boers imprisoned a large number of the
soldiers whom they captured during the earlier part
of the South African War. The prisoners were placed
in compounds surrounded by tall fences of barbed
wire, strongly guarded, and lit at night by electricity.
265
THE FIVE NATIONS
There were over four thousand British prisoners there
when Lord Roberts entered Pretoria on June 5th,
1900. The Boers had intended to carry them farther
east, but were so hurried by Lord Roberts's rapid
movements that they were only able to take one
thousand. On the morning of the 5th June a number
of the British prisoners overcame their guards and
escaped. The Boers shelled them as they ran and
shelled a train sent to pick them up, but only one
casualty occurred.
Boer prisoners captured by the British were sent to
Ceylon or to St. Helena.
PIET
Stanza i. All that foreign lot. At the outbreak
of the South African War a number of men of Euro-
pean or American nationality offered their services to
the Boers. Of these from three to four hundred were
German, four hundred were Dutch, two hundred were
Irish — mostly Irish-American — three hundred were
French, and one hundred Scandinavian. There were
also some American, Swiss, Italian, and Russian.
In all, the Boers' foreign allies numbered about two
thousand five hundred. The Boer attitude towards
them was not very cordial. Kruger, when welcoming
a party of German volunteers, said, 'Thank you for
coming. Don't imagine that we had need of you.
But as you wish to fight for us you are welcome.'
The foreign allies received no pay, but expected a
266
THE FIVE NATIONS
reward after the war was over. Some had offered
themselves out of sympathy with the Boer cause;
others joined from love of adventure, desire for mili-
tary experience, or greed for plunder. An American
who joined the Boers in order to test a gun that he had
invented is the chief character in 'The Captive.'
{Traffics and Discoveries).
'Is coat-tails lyin level. The Boers did not adopt
any uniform but wore their usual civilian dress — in
many cases frock coats of the fashion of half a century
ago. In the latter part of the war, being unable to
replenish their wardrobes in the normal way, many
of them wore uniforms taken from British prisoners.
This was a violation of the rules of civilised warfare
as laid down by the Hague War Regulations, which
enact that combatants must wear 'a distinctive em-
blem recognisable at a distance'; but in the circum-
stances it would have been exceedingly difficult for
them to have obeyed this regulation.
Stanza 3. Camp and cattle guards. When a col-
umn is not on the march pickets are thrown out to
guard the camp, and men are sent to herd and guard
the horses and oxen as they graze. If opportunity
offers, these guards will wile away the time by sniping
at the enemy.
Boer bread. The bread used by the Boers in the
field was very much like what is known as 'pulled
bread.' They made bread in the ordinary way, then
broke up the loaves into small lumps and baked these
267
THE FIVE NATIONS
again. In this form the bread kept its freshness
much longer than it would otherwise have done.
Being crisper and more palatable than British army
biscuit, it was much appreciated by British soldiers
who had the luck to raid a Boer camp.
Biltong. Meat that has been cut into strips and
dried in the sun. It will keep thus for a long period.
It is eaten without any further preparation.
Dop. Coarse kind of brandy made by Afrikander
farmers.
Stanza 4. An' borrowed all my Sunday clo'es.
(See note, ' Stellenbosh,' stanza 2, p. 264.)
Spoored. Spoor is Afrikander-Dutch for footprints.
The verb therefore means to track a man or a beast
by following its footprints.
You've sold me many a pup. Often tricked me.
"Ands up!' The sign of surrender.
Stanza 5. From Plezvman's to Marabastad. Plew-
man's is just to the south of Colesberg in Cape
Colony, and Marabastad is in the northern Transvaal.
The two places are connected by railway; the line
between them formed the longest stretch of railway
line in the war area.
From Ookeip to De Aar. Ookeip is a village in
Namaqualand, which was besieged by Smuts in April,
1902. De Aar is the junction of the Cape Town and
Port Elizabeth railways. Between Ookeip and De
Aar lies the longest stretch of war area unserved by
any railway line.
268
THE FIVE NATIONS
The drive. At the beginning of 1902, though the
main Boer forces were broken, there were still 25,00x3
Boers in the field. These had dispersed into small
bands and were carrying on guerilla \tarfare. To
suppress these bands Lord Kitchener organised a
series of ' drives,' in which small British forces moving
in line with each other, and in communication with
each other, swept across the country, capturing or
driving before them such Boer commandos as they
encountered.
Stanza 6. Blockhouse fence. Before the systeni
of 'drives' was initiated, long lines of blockhouses,
within range of each other and connected by barbed
wire fences, were built across and across the war area.
The effect of these blockhouses was two-fold. Before
the system was adopted the British mobile columns
could not operate far away from the railways, on
which they were dependent for supplies: when the
lines of blockhouses were built they served to protect
convoys that, by keeping close to them, could advance
far into the war area to feed the mobile columns, which
were thus freed from the necessity of returning period-
ically to the railways. The lines also served to check
the movements of the Boer commandos, which could
not cross them without coming under the fire of those
who garrisoned the blockhouses.
Gifts and loans. After the declaration of peace the
British Government issued the sum of £3,000,000, to
be spent on giving the Boer farmers a new start in life.
269
THE FIVE NATIONS
They were supplied with stock, seed-corn, etc., and
allowed to borrow money free of interest. The Gov-
ernment ploughed the land of those to whom it could
not immediately issue draught-oxen.
Frow. Wife.
'WILFUL MISSING'
Stanza 4. Name, number, record. Each British
soldier carried sewn into a pocket of his tunic a
parchment — colloquially known as his photograph —
on which was written his name, regimental number,
address of his nearest relative, etc. A man who died
on the field could thus be identified. A man who
deserted could cover his tracks by putting his tunic,
with his identification card in its pocket, on to the
body of a dead Boer.
Stanza 9. Domino. In the game of dominoes a
player who has played all his 'cards' says 'Domino'
to his opponent.
UBIQUE
The Royal Regiment of Artillery is divided into
Horse Artillery, Field Artillery, and Garrison Artil-
lery. Each branch bears the motto Ubique ('every-
where').
Stanza 2. You've caught the flash and timed it by
the sound. Light travels faster than sound. If the
time that elapses between the flash of a gun's dis-
charge and the sound of its report reaching the ob-
270
THE FIVE NATIONS
server is carefully noted, it will be possible to ascertain
how far away the gun is situated.
Stanza 3. Uhique means Blue Fuse, an make the
'ole to sink the trail. The trail is that part of a gun
which is connected to the limber when the gun-carriage
is in motion. When the gun is detached from the
limber the trail rests on the ground. As the trail is
on one side of the axle, and the muzzle of the gun on
the other, the trail must be sunk into a hole in the
ground when, in order to give the gun its greatest
possible range, it is desired to elevate the muzzle.
The fuses used in shells that are to burst at extreme
range are painted blue.
Stanza 4. Bank, 'Olborn, Bank. Many of the
horses used by the Field Artillery in the South African
War had been purchased from the London Omnibus
Companies. It therefore became a standing joke in
the columns to greet Field Artillery on the march with
the cries of London 'bus conductors.
De Wet. The Boer general who became famous
for his success in evading capture.
Stanza 5. Drift. Ford.
Khaki muzzles. The guns were painted khaki
(mud coloured) to make them inconspicuous.
Stanza 6. R. A. M. R. Infantillery Corps. Royal
Artillery Mounted Rifles was the official title of the
gunners who were used for duty during the South
African War as mounted infantry.
Stanza 7. Linesman. Foot soldier. Artillery
271
THE FIVE NATIONS
and infantry are of mutual advantage to each other.
Artillery can help infantry by supplementing its fire,
and by firing bursting shells can compel the enemy
to keep close cover. Infantry, on the other hand,
help artillery by protecting the flanks of the guns.
When the two arms are co-operating artillery usually
fires over the heads of its own infantry.
Stanza 8. Colesberg Kop. A precipitous isolated
hill, 800 feet high, near Colesberg, in Cape Colony.
The 4th Battery dragged two fifteen-pounders to the
top, from which, by sinking the trails, they were able
to obtain a range of nearly gooo yards.
Quagga's Poort. On the west of Cape Colony, near
Sutherland.
Ninety-nine. The South African War began on
October nth, 1899.
RECESSIONAL
A recessional is a hymn sung when clergy and choir
leave the church at the end of a service.
This poem was published on the 17th July, 1897,
towards the close of the celebration of Queen Vic-
toria's Diamond Jubilee. I The Prime Ministers of all
the self-governing colonies, troops from these colonies,
Imperial Service Troops sent by native Indian princes,
Hausas from the West Coast of Africa, Negroes from
the West Indies, Zaptiehs from Cyprus, Chinamen
from Hong Kong, even Dyaks from Borneo, took
part in ceremonies of unparalleled splendour. One
272
THE FIVE NATIONS
hundred and sixty-five vessels of the Royal Navy as-
sembled for review. The poem was an appropriate
monition at a time when the British people might well
have been dazzled by the pomp that typified the
'might, majesty, dominion, and power' of the greatest
empire in the world's history.
There are in this poem, with one exception, no_
Uteral quotations from the Bible such as are found in
many of Rudyard Kipling's other poems, but the
following references show that in his choice of words
he has been considerably under the influence of the
Authorised Version.
Deuteronomy vi. 12: 'Then beware lest thou for-
get the Lord, which brought thee forth out of
the land of Egypt.'
2^, Job xxxix. 25: 'The thunder of the captains, and
the shouting.'
'3, Psalm H. 17: 'The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God,
Thou wilt not despise.'
^/ Psalm xc. 4: 'For a thousand years in Thy sight
are but as yesterday.'
f^Nahum iii. 7: 'Nineveh is laid waste: who will
, bemoan her?'
C Romans ii. 14: 'The Gentiles, which have not the
law.'
273
Songs from "Books
The order of the following notes on the songs and chapter
headings in Mr. Kipling's prose works follows the order of
the collected volume of these poems published in the au-
tumn of 1913 under the title Songs from Books. In several
cases the collected edition of these contains portions of
poems that did not appear in the prose works.
PUCK'S SONG
This song as published in Songs from Books contains more
stanzas than the version which appears in Puck of Pook's Hill.
The numbers given in parentheses refer to the order of the stanzas
as they appear in Puck of Pook's Hill.
In this song Puck sings of the history of the county
of Sussex.
Stanza i. Trafalgar. This word is usually mis-
pronounced in English. The accent should be on the
last syllable.
Stanza 2. Bayham's mouldering walls. Bayham
Abbey is in the Weald, five miles to the south-east of
Tunbridge Wells, and on the border between Kent
and Sussex. It belonged to the White Canons. A
Tudor mansion took the place of the abbey at the
Reformation, but ruins of the church and a gateway
are still standing.
274
SONGS FROM BOOKS
Stanzas 3 and 4 (i). From the earliest days down
to the end of the eighteenth century iron was worked
iri Sussex, timber from the Weald being used to smelt
it. The decline of the industry was due to the grad-
ual disappearance of the timber and to the discovery
of the process of smelting with coal instead of charcoal,
a discovery which made it possible to smelt iron more
cheaply in the north of England, where coal and iron
are found side by side, than in Sussex. A Roman
forge in the parish of Burwash is mentioned by Par-
nesius in the story 'A Centurion of the Twentieth,'
and the allied trades of cannon-founding and gun-
running are the subject of the story 'Hal o' the Draft.'
All the guns used in the Tudor navy were forged in
Sussex.
Stanza 5 (2). The story ' Below the Mill Dam,' in
Traffics and Discoveries, has for its subject a water-
mill older than Domesday Book.
Stanza 7 (4). The pasture-land to the south of
the town of Rye was covered by sea in the days when
Alfred the Great built a navy with which to drive off
the Norse pirates. The Norsemen sailed up the
Rother, the river which makes the port of Rye, in
893 A. D., and left one of their galleys behind them.
This galley was found in the year 1822 buried under
10 feet of sand and mud in a field at Northiam, near
the present channel of the Rother, but several miles
from the sea.
Stanzas 9 and 10 (6 and 7). There are a number of
27s
SONGS FROM BOOKS
ancient camps — Roman, British, and Neolithic — on
the Sussex Downs. Two of these, known as Cissbury
Ring and Chanctonbury Ring, are believed to be from
four to six thousand years old. Cissbury, inside of
which are the remains of a number of flint-quarries,
must have been for the south of England what Shef-
field is to-day. The flint-workings are far more ex-
tensive than local needs could have required, and
tools made there probably passed from tribe to tribe
over a wide area at a time when London, if it existed
at all, was only a pile-built fishing village. When the
Romans came they made camps of their own, but also
made use of the fortifications constructed by Neo-
lithic men many centuries before Caesar landed in
Britain.
As some of the embankments of these prehistoric
towns are still as much as 30 feet high they are easily
seen. Others, lower and more worn, are difficult to
trace. Standing actually on them, it is not obvious
that the rise of the ground is artificial, and one must
go some distance away and get something of a bird's-
eye view in order to realise that what seemed at first
a chance hillock is really part of a definite scheme of
fortification. Even then one can only detect the
lines of the earthworks under favourable atmospheric
conditions. On a warm day there is too much heat
shimmer in the air. Camps can most easily be seen
after rain, when the air is cool and clear. After rain,
too, surface accumulations of dust are washed away
276
SONGS FROM BOOKS
and the permanent outlines of what Hes below it are
revealed. (See also 'Sussex,' stanza 6, p. 217.)
Stanza 11(8). Salt marsh where now is corn. The
coast-line of Sussex has altered considerably within
historical times. Wilfrid's cathedral and monastery
(see note, 'Sussex,' stanza 7, p. 219) long ago disap-
peared below the sea, but, on the other hand, the sea
has receded a mile and more from the old ports of
Rye, Winchelsea, and Pevensey, and cattle now graze
where Norse, Norman, and Plantagenet ships once
sailed.
A THREE-PART SONG
Weald, marsh, and chalk down are the three char-
acteristics of Sussex. On the south 'levels,' formerly
undrained marshes, alternate with lofty chalk downs
running east and west, roughly parallel with the coast.
To the north of the Downs stretches the Weald, which
was all forest land until the growth of the iron in-
dustry, which needed charcoal for smelting, caused
the destruction of the timber.
Stanza 3. Brenzett is a low-lying village between
Romney Marsh and Wayland Marsh.
Stanza 4. Firle and Ditchling Beacons are the two
highest points in the county.
THE RUN OF THE DOWNS
The places mentioned in this poem are the most
prominent points of the South Downs westwards from
277
SONGS FROM BOOKS
Beachy Head. Near Mount Harry, Henry iii. de-
feated the Barons under Simon de Montfort. A
large cross cut in the turf on the west side of it, now
overgrown, is supposed to have been made to invoke
prayers for the souls of those who died in the battle.
Truleigh, Duncton, Linch, and Treyford are men-
tioned in Domesday Book under the names Traigli,
Donechitone, Lince, and Treverde. King Alfred had
a park near Ditchling Beacon. The Long Man of
Wilmington (see note, 'Sussex,' stanza 9, p. 220) was
cut on the side of Winddoor Hill. The Roman road
from Chichester to London passed over Bignor Hill,
and traces of Roman occupation have been found
near Ditchling Beacon. Chanctonbury Ring became
a Roman camp, but it was made by Neolithic men
many centuries before Rome was built (see notes on
'Puck's Song,' stanzas 9 and 10, p. 275, and on
'Sussex,' stanza 4, p. 217).
BROOKLAND ROAD
Stanza 3. Duntin' . Dunting, literally 'striking
with a dull-sounding blow.'
Stanza 6. Goodman's Farm. The Goodwin Sands,
six miles from the east coast of Kent. There is a
tradition to the effect that they are all that is left of
an island called Lomea, which belonged to Earl
Godwin. This island passed into the hands of the
Abbot of St. Augustine, Canterbury, who devoted
the money which he should have spent in keeping its
278
SONGS FROM BOOKS
sea-wall in repair to the building of Tenterden steeple.
In 1099 the island was swamped by the sea. Hence
there is a cryptic saying in Kent, 'Tenterden steeple
was the cause of Goodwin Sands.'
Stanza 7. Fairfield Church stands in a lonely part
of Romney Marsh between Brookland and Apple-
dore. Though about five miles from the nearest
coast it is only fifteen feet above sea-level. Built
of old red brick and roofed with shingles, the tiny
church is interesting rather than beautiful. It is
one of the churches that were formerly used by
smugglers.
SIR RICHARD'S SONG
Stanza l. Fief and fee. Land granted by a feudal
lord in return for military and other services. The
duke referred to is William the Conqueror, Duke of
Normandy. In the story 'Young Men at the Manor'
{Puck of Pook's Hill), Sir Richard Dalynridge holds
his land from de Aquila on condition of supplying him,
when required to do so, with six mounted men or
twelve archers, three bags of seed-corn yearly, and of
giving him entertainment for two days in each year
in the Great Hall of the Manor.
A TREE SONG
The date attached to this poem in Songs from Books,
1200 A. D., is the year in which Layamon, the early
English poet, wrote his chronicle Brut, which con-
279
SONGS FROM BOOKS
tained an account of Brutus, the Trojan, and of his
more or less mythical kingly descendants, Bladud,
Lear, Lud, Cymbeline, Vortigern, Uther, Arthur, and
others.
Stanza 2. Brtit, Brute, or Brutus was grandson
of Aeneas of Troy. Having killed his father by acci-
dent, he fled to Britain and became the first king of
the Britons. He founded New Troy (Troy Novant)
where London now stands. This legend was invented
by mediaeval etymologists to explain why London was
called Troy Novant. The word is really a corruption
of Trinovantes, the name of a British tribe conquered
by the Romans in 43 a. d. The similarity between
the names Bryt, a Briton, and Brutus supplies the
source of the rest of the legend.
Stanza 5. A-conjuring Summer in! It was the
custom throughout Europe in pre-Christian days (and
still is the custom in Italy) to dance round bonfires on
the hilltops on Midsummer Eve. Christian priests
objected first to the custom, but later gave it a Chris-
tian significance by dedicating Midsummer Day to
St. John the Baptist.
A CHARM
Stanza 3, Candelmas — 2nd February. An an-
cient Church festival to commemorate the presenta-
tion of the infant Christ in the Temple. It is so called
because since the eleventh century it has been the
custom of the Roman Catholic Church to consecrate
280
SONGS FROM BOOKS
on that day all the candles that will be needed for
church use throughout the year.
Simples. Herbalists used to apply this name to
plants that they used medicinally.
CHAPTER HEADINGS
PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
IN THE HOUSE OF SUDDHOO
'a stone's throw out on either hand'
Churel and ghoul and Djinn and sprite. A churel
is ' the ghost of a woman who has died in childbed.
She haunts lonely roads, her feet are turned back-
wards on the ankles, and she leads men to torment.'
When Kim overheard the conspiracy to murder Mah-
bub Ali at Umballa station, in order to have an
excuse for leaving his sleeping-place, he pretended to
have a nightmare and rose screaming out that he had
seen the churel.
Djinn. (See note, 'The Captive,' line 7, p. 290.)
CUPID'S ARROWS
'pit where the BUFFALO COOLED HIS HIDE '
Log in the reh-grass, hidden and lone;
Bund where the earth-rat's mounds are strewn.
The version of this poem that appears in Plain Tales
from the Hills has 'plume-grass' for 'reh-grass' and
'dam' for 'bund.'
281
SONGS FROM BOOKS
COLD IRON
In European folklore iron is held to have power to
drive away witches, fairies, or any supernatural be-
ings. Iron horseshoes nailed to stable-doors protect
the horses from being ridden by witches. The super-
stition probably comes down from prehistoric days,'
when those tribes who knew how to make weapons of
iron had an immense advantage over those whose
weapons were made of nothing better than wood and
stone. It has been shown elsewhere (see note, 'A
Pict Song,' p. 296) that, so far as Great Britain is
concerned, the aboriginal Picts were probably the
ancestors of the more modern fairies. In Scotland,
if a man blasphemes, it sometimes happens that
those who hear him will call out 'Cauld airn,' and
all present will touch the nails in their boots or
the nearest piece of iron. When the passage of
the Bible about devils entering into the Gadarene
swine is being read in a Scotch church, the fisher-
men in the congregation have been known to whisper
'cauld airn.'
A SONG OF KABIR
Kabir was a religious reformer of northern India
who lived and preached in the earlier part of the
fifteenth century. Both Hindoos and Mohammedans
claim him to have been born within their fold. He
taught the Unity of the Godhead, the vanity of idols,
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
the powerlessness of both Brahmans (Hindoo priests)
and mullahs (Mohammedan priests) to guide or help,
and the divine origin of the human soul. He pro-
claimed that distinctions of creed have no importance
in the eyes of God, that all men are brothers, and that
it is a crime to take the life of any living creature.
*No act of devotion can equal truth,' he said, 'no
crime is so bad as falsehood.' Kabir's followers have
been compared to Quakers on account of their hatred
of bloodshed and their unobtrusive piety. The relig-
ion of the Sikhs was at first largely based on the
teachings of Kabir.
Stanza i. Guddee. (See note, 'Shiva and the
Grasshopper,' stanza i, p. 285.)
Bairagi. A mendicant member of the sect founded
by Ramananda, to which Kabir belonged. Though
most members of this sect are of the sudra or lowest
caste, it is open to men of all castes. Ramananda's
chief disciples included a weaver, a currier, a Rajput,
a Jat, a barber, and several Brahmans.
Stanza 2. The sal and the kikar are two shade
trees, bastard teak and acacia. The former is grown
in the Central Provinces of India ; the latter is found
in the Punjab.
He is seeking the Way. (See note on 'Buddha at
Kamakura,' stanza 2, p. 224.) Kabir was in no sense
a Buddhist, but his definition of the Way, had he
left one, would probably have been very similar to
that of Gautama.
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*MY NEW-CUT ASHLAR'
This poem appeared originally as an envoy to the
volume Life's Handicap.
Ashlar is a word used by builders and architects for a
hewn or squared stone used in facing a wall. In free-
masonry the word has a symbolic meaning. Rough
stone as it comes from the quarry symbolises man un-
regenerate and ignorant, whereas the ashlar, the stone
that is properly cut and fit for a place in the temple,
symbolises a man whose mind is freed from earthly
taints.
EDDI'S SERVICE
Eddi (Aeddi or Eddius) was a Kentishman who was
choirmaster (and later biographer) of Wilfrid, Arch-
bishop of York (see note on ' Sussex,' stanza 7, p. 219).
Manhood was the name of the 'hundred' or dis-
trict granted to Wilfrid by Ethelwalch, King of the
South Saxons. It was among the 'levels' which now
terminate in Selsey Bill.
The date attached to this poem, 687 a. d., was the
year following Wilfrid's return to York. Possibly
Eddi found the newly converted Sussex men less
tractable when his master's dominating personality
was withdrawn.
SHIV AND THE GRASSHOPPER
Shiva, the third go'd in the Hindoo Trinity, is the
Destroyer (Brahma is the Creator and Vishnu the
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Preserver). As, however, Death, in Hindoo behef, is
merely a transition to a new form of hfe, Shiva is
really a re-creator, and is therefore styled the Bright
or Happy One.
Stanza i. Guide e. Cushion of state, throne —
thus any seat of office or power.
Mahadeo. The 'Great' God.
THE FAIRIES' SIEGE
Stanza 3. To the Triple Crown I would not how
down. The Triple Crown is the triregnum or tiara of
the Popes. It has no sacred character, being solely
the ensign of sovereign power. It is therefore never
worn at liturgical functions, when the Pope always
wears the mitre.
A SONG TO MITHRAS
Mithras was the god of light and identified with the
sun. Though originally a minor Persian deity, his
worship began to be adopted by the Romans during
the first century B.C. It did not become popular till
the second century a. d., by the end of which it was
well established, especially among Roman soldiers.
He was the giver of victory, the protector of armies,
and the champion of heroes. His worshippers had
to be truthful, loyal, pure, and brave in fight, both
against human foes and the forces of evil.
He was worshipped at sunrise, noon, and sunset,
his worshippers facing east, south, and west in turn,
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
but the most ceremonial form of worship was enacted
at night-time in underground temples.
The 30th Legion was stationed at the Roman
Wall at the date assigned to this poem {circa 350
A. D.). See 'A Centurion of the Thirtieth,' 'On
the Great Wall,' and 'Winged Hats' in Puck of
Pook's Hill. In 360 the Scots and Picts, to with-
stand whom the wall (see below) was built, invaded
Britain.
Stanza i. The Wall. Hadrian's Wall, stretching
from Solway Firth to Tyne. Septimus Severus re-
built it in 208 A. D., from which time till the de-
parture of the Romans it was the northern frontier
in Britain of the Roman Empire. The more northern
wall, built by Antoninus Pius, was abandoned in
185 A. D.
Stanza 4. Here where the great bull dies. Bulls
were sacrificed to Mithras because one of the most
important acts of mythical Mithras, before he
was received among the immortals, was the sacri-
fice of a bull, by means of which sacrifice life was
created.
THE NEW KNIGHTHOOD
For the various ceremonies connected with the con-
ferring of knighthood — the Bath, the laying on of the
sword, the buckling of the belt and spurs, etc. — see
note on 'The last Rhyme of True Thomas,' stanzas 4
and s, p. 156.
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
OUTSONG IN THE JUNGLE
In the Jungle Books (to which this poem forms an
envoy) Mowgli, called the 'wise Frog,' is a child who
has been reared from infancy by wolves, and has be-
come intimate with, and learned the speech of, all
the inhabitants of the jungle. Baloo is the Bear that
taught him the Jungle-law. Tabaqui is the jackal,
the attendant of Shere Khan, the tiger whom Mow-
gli slew. Kaa is the big rock-python that saved
Mowgli from the Bandar-log, the monkey-folk.
Bagheera is the panther, who always swears 'by
the Broken-Lock' that freed him from captivity
among men in the King's Palace at Oodeypore;
he paid for Mowgli's admission to the Wolf-pack.
The Flower is fire, the special possession of men-
folk.
A ST. HELENA LULLABY
The rioting in Paris streets which brought about
primarily the fall of the Bastille and ultimately the
downfall of the French monarchy gave Napoleon
Bonaparte his opportunity. At Austerlitz, by defeat-
ing the combined Austrian and Russian armies, he
made himself master of the Continent of Europe.
He was crowned Emperor of the French 'to complete
his work by rendering it, like his glory, immortal.' At
Trafalgar he lost his naval power. At the Beresina
his magnificent army, retreating from Moscow, be-
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
came a terror-stricken rabble, and Waterloo com-
pleted his downfall.
Stanza 8. Trapesings. Gaddings about.
CHIL'S SONG
Chil, the Indian kite, is one of the characters in the
Jungle Books. He marked the way the Bandar-log
went when they carried off Mowgli (see note on 'Out-
song in the Jungle,' p. 287), and thus enabled Mowgli's
friends, Baloo, Bagheera, and Kaa, to recover him.
Chil is described as ' a cold-blooded kind of creature
at heart,' because he knows that almost everybody
in the jungle comes to him in the long run.
Stanza 2. They that hade the sambhur wheel. The
sambhur is the Indian elk. Wolves hunting in packs
make a division of labour. While some keep the game
on the run others lie in ambush in places it is likely to
pass, and by showing themselves at the right moment
make it wheel. The game is thus driven backwards
and forwards and becomes exhausted more quickly
than the wolves that are hunting it.
They that shunned the level horn. When a deer is
at bay it holds its head low down between its forefeet
and its horns advanced parallel with the ground in a
position to gore the first wolf that springs at it.
THE CAPTIVE
The poem here noticed is entitled ' The Captive' in Songs from
Books and 'From the Masjid-al-aqsa of Sayyid Ahmed {Wahabi)'
in Traffics and Discoveries.
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
The Masjid-al-aqsa literally means 'the most dis-
tant mosque,' and is a common name among Indian
Mohammedans for the Temple at Jerusalem. It
owes special sanctity to the fact that from there,
according to Mohammedan belief, Mahomet was
translated to heaven. A Turkish mosque built in
691 A. D. now bears the name, and is the 'most dis-
tant' mosque to which pilgrimages from India are
made.
Sayyid Ahmed was a learned Mussalman of the
Wahabi sect, which endeavours to restore Mohammed-
anism to the primitive simplicity of conduct and
worship taught by Mahomet. After preaching his
doctrines with much success in India, Sayyid Ahmed
in 1822 made the pilgrimage to Mecca. He then
travelled in Turkey and Arabia, propagating the
tenets of the Wahabi sect. He returned to India and
began what might be called a revival mission, de-
nouncing the superstitions which the Indian Moham-
medans had borrowed from the Hindoos. The official
Mohammedan leaders opposed him, and the dispute
led to the reformers being interdicted by the British
Government in 1827. Sayyid Ahmed then went to
the Punjab accompanied by a hundred thousand
disciples. In 1829 he declared a holy war against the
Sikhs and made himself master of Peshawur. Soon
afterwards, however, his Afghan allies deserted him,
finding his austerities too rigorous for their tastes.
Sayyid Ahmed fled across the Indus, and in 183 1
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
encountered a body of Sikhs under Sher Singh, by
whom he was put to death. Sayyid Ahmed's chief
Uterary work was entitled Tambihu-l-ghafilin, or
' Awakener of the Heedless.' The poem here attrib-
uted to him was, however, written by Rudyard
Kipling.
Embroidered with names of the Djinns. The Djinns,
according to Mohammedan mythology, are spirits
midway in rank between men and angels. Whoever
knows the name of a Djinn and uses it with proper pre-
cautions has power to command its owner to perform
wonderful things. A carpet embroidered with the
names of Djinns, therefore, could only be possessed
by a great magician. Mohammedans believe that the
Djinns built the Pyramids and used formerly to spy
on the secrets of heaven.
HADRAMAUTI
The sixth stanza only of this ■poem, as it appears in Songs from
Books, is to he found in Plain Tales from the Hills. It introduces
the story 'A Friend's Friend.'
Hadramaut is a district on the south coast ofArabia.
Its inhabitants are of the most aristocratic and con-
servative type of Arab; A large proportion of them
are Seyyids (descendants of Hosain, grandson of
Mahomet).
Stanza 2. Booted, bareheaded he enters. An Arab
on entering a building removes his shoes but keeps
on his headgear.
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He asks of us news of the household. Although
woman's position in Arabia is higher than it is in
Mohammedan India — in tribal wars a woman riding in
a camel-litter often accompanies her tribesmen sing-
ing songs in praise of her own people and of insult to
the enemy — they are as rigidly secluded. No man
mentions his own wife in conversation or speaks of
another's. ' The utmost that politeness allows among
intimate friends is a casual inquiry as to the health
of a man's 'household.'
Stanza 3 . / refreshed him, I fed him
As he were even a brother.
Hospitality is a sacred duty among the Arabs. The
wealthier members of a community will dispute
among themselves for the privilege of receiving a
guest, and a host will defend his guest at peril of his
own life.
Eblis. The chief of the fallen angels. He was
cast out of heaven for refusing to worship Adam.
Stanza 4. He talked with his head, hands, and
feet. I endured him with loathing. According to
Burckhardt, one of the few Europeans who have
succeeded in visiting Mecca, the Arab is studi-
ously calm, and rarely so much as raises his voice
in a dispute. But his outward tranquillity con-
ceals a passionate and revengeful nature. A rash
jest may be revenged years after it has been
uttered.
Stanza 6. / gave him rice and goat's flesh. Rice
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
and meat of any kind are luxuries among the Arabs.
Their staple food is bread made of roughly-ground
wheat, beans, lentils, and dates.
CHAPTER HEADINGS
THE NAULAHKA
'beat off in our last fight were we'?
Caravel and Picaroon. A caravel was a light trading
vessel of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, usually
armed to resist attack. A picaroon was a pirate
ship.
Every sun-dried buccaneer
Must hand and reef and watch and steer.
The qualifications of an A. B. (able seaman) as dis-
tinct from an ordinary seaman are that he must know
how to hand (furl sails), reef (reduce the area of a sail),
and steer. To watch in this sense is to keep a look-out
at night.
'we be gods of the east'
To the life that he knows where the altar-flame
glows and the tulsi is trimmed in the
urns.
The tulsi plant (holy basil) is consecrated to Vishnu
and Krishna and is worshipped by the women-folk
of every Hindoo household. It grows on the altar
before the house or in a pot placed in one of the front
windows.
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
THE LIGHT THAT FAILED
'the lark will make her hymn to, god'
Stanza 2. ' Tis dule to know not night from morn.
'Dule' is a Scottish word for misery. It appears in
the better known word 'doleful.'
'yet at the last, ere our spearmen had
FOUND him'
Though the Kafirs had maimed him. Kafirs in this
context means 'unbelievers,' men who do not accept
Mahomet as a Prophet of God.
He called upon Allah, and died a believer! Moham-
medans believe it necessary for a man's salvation that
he should at least once in a lifetime declare that ' there
is no. God but God; Mahomet is the apostle of God'
(' la ilaha illa-Uahu ; Muhammad rasul allahi ') . Mun-
go Park relates that he saw drivers of Arab slave
caravans, though utterly callous to the bodily welfare
of their victims, endeavour to ensure that none
of them should die pagan. If a slave fell dying on
the march they would urge him to utter the profes-
sion of Faith before they abandoned him to the vul-
tures.
GALLIO'S SONG
'And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the
Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul,
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
and brought him to the judgment seat. . . . And
when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallic
said unto the Jews, " If it were a matter of wrong or
wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I
should bear with you : but if it be a question of words
and names, and of your law, look ye to it ; for I will
be no judge of such matters." And he drave them
from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took
Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat
him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for
none of those things' (Acts xviii. 12-17).
Stanza 2. This maker of tents. 'And because he
(Paul) was of the same craft, he abode with them, and
wrought: for by their occupation they were tent-
makers' (Acts xviii. 3).
Lictor. The officer who attended a Roman magis-
trate and kept order in his presence.
Stanza 4. Claudius Ccesar hath set me here. In
the second verse of the chapter quoted above it ap-
pears indirectly that Claudius was Emperor when
Gallio was deputy of Achaia. Aquila, the tentmaker
with whom Paul lodged, had lately come from Italy,
'because that Claudius had lately commanded all
Jews to depart from Rome.'
Stanza 5. This stanza is not included in the ver-
sion of the -poem that appears in Actions and Reac-
tions.
Whether ye follow Priapus or Paul. Priapus was
the most obscene of the Greek gods. Originally the
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
personification of the fruitfulness of nature, he came
to be regarded as the god of sensuality. His symbol
was the phallus.
THE BEES AND THE FLIES
Aristaeus, son of Apollo and Cyrene, possessed
some swarms of bees which the gods destroyed. To
learn why they had robbed him, Aristaeus surprised
Proteus and bound him with chains. Proteus, after
making vigorous but futile efforts to escape — such as
turning himself in turn into a fire, a fierce savage, and
a running river — revealed the secret that the gods had
destroyed the bees of Aristaeus to punish him for his
conduct to Eurydice. Cyrene then tells her son that
he must appease the nymphs by sacrificing four choice
bulls of beauteous form and four heifers who had
never felt the yoke. He does so, and nine days after-
wards visits the carcasses of the cattle he had sacri-
ficed. He finds them full of bees which promptly
swarm on a neighbouring tree.
In the fourth book of the Georgics, which is devoted
to hints, many of them eminently practical, on the
keeping of bees, Virgil recounts this tale and gives the
following instructions for the replacing of lost swarms :
— Build a shed with four windows towards the four
winds; drive a two-year-old steer into it and there
suffocate it; then cover the carcass with boughs of
trees, thyme, and cassia. A swarm of bees will soon
emerge from the carrion.'
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
Bees, as a matter of fact, have been known to hive
in a decaying carcass, but the method here advocated
of obtaining new swarms has not met with general
favour among bee-keepers !
ROAD SONG OF THE BANDAR-LOG
The Bandar-log are the monkey-people. Accord-
ing to the story ' Kaa's Hunting' in The Jungle Book,
they are known in the jungle as 'the people without
a Law.' Baloo, the Bear, told Mowgli, the Man-cub,
that 'They are outcaste. They are without leaders.
They have no remembrance. They boast and chatter
and pretend that they are a great people about to do
great affairs in the jungle, but the falling of a nut turns
their minds to laughter and all is forgotten.'
A BRITISH ROMAN SONG
The withdrawal of Roman troops from Britain
began in 401 a. d. In 406 a. d., the date ascribed to
this poem, the remaining Roman troops in Britain
elected their own emperor.
The Seven Hills are the seven hills on which Rome
was built.
A PICT SONG
We are the Little Folk. That the Picts were a * little
folk' physically as well as numerically is evident from
the remains that exist of their beehive-shaped under-
ground inhabitations, in which it is impossible for
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
a modern average-sized man to stand erect (see David
MacRitchie's Fians, Fairies, and Picts). It is quite
possible that vague traditions about the Picts gave
rise to many of the popular beliefs about fairies. As
what was known about them became more and more
vague with the lapse of time, their smallness may well
have been exaggerated, until we get the conventional
idea of a fairy small enough to lie in a cowslip bell and
fly on a bat's back.
RIMINI
Only the first stanza of this song appears in Puck of
Pook's Hill.
In the story 'On the Great Wall' {Puck of Pook's
Hill), Parnesius said that this song was 'one of the
tunes that are always being born somewhere in the
Empire. They run like a pestilence for six months or
a year, till another one pleases the Legions, and then
they march to that.'
Stanza i. iJzmwz is the Roman Ariminum on the
Adriatic coast. The Pontic shore is the shore of the
Black Sea.
Stanza 2. Fia Aurelia. This road ran along the
Italian coast from Rome to Genoa.
Stanza 4. Narbo. Narbo or Narbo Martins is
the modern Narbonne in France. It was there that
the Romans founded their first colony in Gaul.
When Rome was tottering to her fall it was occupied
in turn by Alans, Suevi, and Vandals. Finally it was
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
captured in 413 by the Visigoths, who eventually
made it their capital.
The Eagles. The insignia carried by the Roman
legions. In this context it means the troops that
followed the Eagles.
'POOR HONEST MEN'
Stanza i. Virginny. Virginia tobacco.
Churchwarden. A clay pipe with a long slender
stem ; the most popular form of pipe in the eighteenth
century.
Stanza 2. 'The Capes of the Delaware. The last
American land sighted by ships bound from Phila-
delphia to Europe.
They press half a score of us. During the Napoleonic
wars all British seamen, between the ages of eighteen
and fifty-five, with some privileged exceptions, were
liable to be compelled to serve in the Navy. British
men-of-war often stopped vessels on the high seas and
impressed their crews. They were supposed to leave
on board enough men to work the ship, but they were
not over-generous in the matter. On one occasion
a homeward bound East Indiaman had so many men
taken out of her that immediately afterwards she had
to surrender to a small French privateer.
Stanza 4. New canvas to bend. New sails to set
in place of those damaged by the cruiser's guns.
Off the Azores. Before the introduction of steam
the Islands of the Azores — as the Spaniards found to
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
their cost when Sir Richard Grenville cruised there —
were of immense strategic importance in maritime
warfare. Standing as they do almost in the centre
of the North Atlantic, all ships bound to Europe from
North or South America, or from eastwards of the
Cape of Good Hope, had to pass near them. They
therefore afforded an excellent base for privateers.
Stanza 5. Roll, twist, and leaf. The three forms
into which Virginia tobacco was made up.
Stanza 6. A 'stern-chaser' is a gun directed over
the stern of a vessel that carries it, in which position
it can be used against a pursuing vessel. A ship's fore
braces keep her yards in position, and if these are cut
by a cannon shot the ship's squaresails, which depend
from the yards, become temporarily useless. A ship
fighting another to the death would pound away at her
hull with the intention of sinking her. A ship whose
chief object was to escape would, on the other hand,
gain more advantage by cutting up her pursuer's rig-
ging, thus compelling her to stop and renew it.
Stanza 7. ' Twix the Forties and Fifties.
Souih-Eastward the drift is.
The Capes of the Delaware are in 39° N. The Land's
End is just north of 50°. The course of a vessel
bound from the Delaware River to the English Chan-
nel is therefore almost entirely between latitudes 40°
N. and 50° N. When thick weather makes it difficult
to take observations with which to correct her course,
she is liable to make her first landfall at Ushant, the
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
southern gatepost of the English Channel (in 48° N,),
as the outer rim of the Gulf Stream from mid-Atlantic
eastwards has a southerly tendency.
Stanza 8. Nor'ard. Northward.
A homeward-bound convoy. During the Napoleonic
wars British merchant vessels sailed in fleets protected
by warships. Those bound for the East and West
Indies, for example, would sail together under the
escort of men-of-war until they reached the neighbour-
hood of Madeira, where they would separate and pro-
ceed independently. The men-of-war would then
cruise at a rendezvous in the Atlantic until a number
of homeward-bound vessels had collected, which they
would then escort to the English Channel. The Brit-
ish Newfoundland fishing-fleet had a permanent es-
cort that accompanied it to the Banks, stayed with it
during the fishing season, and brought it home again.
Stanza 10. Handspike. An iron-bound wooden
lever used in handling a muzzle-loading cannon.
PROPHETS AT HOME
Stanza 2. Jonah, the prophet, predicted the down-
fall of Nineveh. The city did not fall, which 'dis-
pleased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry'
(Jonah iv. i).
JUBAL AND TUBAL-CAIN
Jubal and Tubal-cain. Jubal and Tubal-cain were
the sons of Lamech (Genesis iv. 21 and 22). Jubal
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
was 'the father of all such as handle the harp and
the organ'; Tubal-cain was 'an instructor of every
artificer in brass and iron.' The two thus typify-
respectively the artistic and the practical tempera-
ments.
Stanza 3. New as the Nine point Two,
Older than Lamech's slain.
The Nine point Two is a naval gun, the bore of
which is 9'2 inches in diameter.
In Genesis iv. 23 (Authorised Version) Lamech
confesses, 'I have slain a man to my wounding,
and a young man to my hurt,' or according to
the Revised Version, 'I have slain a man for
wounding me, and a young man for bruising me.'
The words occur in a poem, the first that appears
in the Bible. Commentators suggest that the poem
expresses Lamech's exultation at the power, en-
abling him to take vengeance for the slightest in-
jury, which Tubal-cain's new invention will give
him.
THE VOORTREKKER
Foortrekker. An Afrikander word for a pioneer,
one who 'treks' or travels before or ahead of others
(see note on the word 'trek,' 'Chant Pagan,' stanza 6,
P- 253)-
Line 12. Stamp. Ore-crushing battery.
Line 13. Blaze. (See note, 'The Explorer,' stanza
II, p. 212.)
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
A SCHOOL SONG
Stalky and Co., in which this poem first appeared, is
dedicated to Cor;rfell Price, Headmaster of the United
Service College, Westward Ho^ Mr. Rudyard Kip-
ling's old school. In many parts of the book the
author pays affectionate tribute to the shrewdness,
the wisdom, and the kindliness of his old headmaster.
One passage is particularly interesting as showing how,
under the wise guidance of 'the Head,' he laid the
foundations of his extraordinarily broad and varied
knowledge.
'He gave Beetle' (Kipling's nickname at Westward
Ho) 'the run of his brown-bound, tobacco-scented
library. . . . There were scores and scores of
ancient dramatists; there were Hakluyt, his voyages;
French translations of Muscovite authors called Push-
kin and Lermontoff ; little tales of a heady and bewil-
dering nature, interspersed with unusual songs — Pea-
cock was that writer's name; there was Borrow's
Lavengro; an odd theme, purporting to be a transla-
tion of something called a "Rubaiyat," which the
Head said was a poem not yet come to its own; there
were hundreds of volumes of verse — Crashaw, Dryden,
Alexander Smith, L. E. L., Lydia Sigourney, Fletcher
and a purple island, Donne, Marlowe's Faust, and —
this made M'Turk (to whom Beetle conveyed it) sheer
drunk for three days— Ossian, The Earthly Paradise,
Atalanta in Calydon, and Rossetti — to name but a few.'
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
Stanza i. Let us now praise famous men. Cf.
Ecclesiasticus xliv. 1,3,4: 'Let us now praise famous
men . . . Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms
. . . Giving counsel by their understanding
, . . Wise were their words in their instruc-
tion.'
Stanza 2. Flung us on a naked shore. Westward
Ho is on the east side of Barnstaple Bay, North
Devon.
Stanza 4. Far and sure our bands have gone —
Hy-Brasil or Babylon.
Islands of the Southern Run,
And cities of Cathaia.
Hy-Brasilwasoneof the islands — such as St. Brandan's
Island, the Fortunate Islands, Avalon, Lyonesse, etc.
— that the geographers of the Middle Ages placed
somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. A Venetian map
marks 'I. de Brazi' in the Azores, and in Purdy's
Chart of the Atlantic, 'corrected to 1830,' it is marked
in 51° 10' N. and 15° 50' W. as 'Brazil Rock (high).'
Cathaia, down till Tudor times, was the western name
for China.
Stanza 6. Each degree of Latitude
Strung above Creation
Seeth one {or more) of us.
As boys educated at the United Service College were
principally sons of men in the services, it was natural
that on growing to manhood they, in turn, should dis-
perse over the globe.
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
OUR FATHERS OF OLD
The story which precedes this poem ('A Doctor of
Medicine/ in Rewards and Fairies) has for its central
character Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654), astrologer,
physician, and herbalist, who got into serious trouble
with the College of Physicians in 1649 for translating
their Pharmacopoeia from Latin into a language that
all could understand, thus jeopardising the profits
of medical men. He practised as an astrologer and
physician in Red Lion Street, Spitalfields, and wrote
among other works Semeiotica Uranica, or an Astro-
nomical Judgement. Quotations below from his book,
' The British Herbal and Family Physician for the use
of Private Families,' show the great extent to which
he believed the sciences of astrology and medicine to
be related.
Stanza i. Alexander (wild parsley), according to
Culpeper, is 'an herb of Jupiter and therefore friendly
to nature, for it warmeth a cold stomach.' Marigold
is a herb of the sun and under Leo. It strengthens
the heart exceedingly. Eyebright, of course, strength-
ens the eyesight. 'If the herb was but as much used
as it is neglected, it would half spoil the spectacle-
maker's trade. ... It also helpeth a weak brain
or memory. . . . It is under the sign of the
Lion, and Sol claims dominion over it.' Elecampane
is under Mercury and good for coughs, stitch in the
side, the teeth, etc. Of Basil Culpeper writes, 'This
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is the herb which all authors are together by the ears
about ; and rail at one another like lawyers. Galen and
Dioscorides hold it not fitting to be taken inwardly,
and Chrysipus rails at it with downright Billingsgate
rhetoric. Pliny and the Arabian physicians defend it.
To Dr. Reason went I, who told me it was an herb
of Mars, and under the Scorpion, and therefore called
basillicon, and it is no marvel if it carry a kind of
virulent quality with it. Being applied to the place
bitten by venomous beasts, or stung by a wasp or a
hornet, it speedily draws the poison to it. Every
LIKE DRAWS ITS LIKE. Hilarius, a French physician,
affirms upon his own knowledge, that an acquaint-
ance of his by common smelling to it, had a scorpion
bred in his brain.* The seed of the rocket is useful
against the bitings of the shrew mouse, but it must
be used with caution, 'for angry Mars rules it, and
he will sometimes be rusty when he meets with fools.'
Rue sharpens the wits. Vervain is an herb of Venus.
Worn as an amulet by itself, it used to be considered
a safeguard against ague, or, together with a baked
toad, against scrofula. Cowslip. 'Venus lays claim
to this herb as her own, and it is under the sign of
Aries, and our city dames know well enough the oint-
ment or distilled water of it adds to beauty.' Rose
of the Sun (or Sun-Dew). 'The sun rules it, and it is
under the sign of Cancer. There is an usual drink
made thereof with Aqua Vitae and spices, to good
purpose used in qualms and passions of the heart.'
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Stanza 4. From the fourteenth to the end of the
seventeenth centuries England was scarcely ever en-
tirely free from plague. Sometimes an epidemic,
visiting a town or village, killed as many as two-thirds
of the inhabitants. During the reign of Charles i.,
if not earlier, the law came into force compelling the
inhabitants of a plague-stricken house to indicate that
it was infected by chalking a cross on the door and
writing underneath ' God have mercy upon us.' When
the mortality was so great as to dislocate the usual
arrangements for the disposal of the dead, corpses were
carried away in carts, the drivers of which patrolled the
streets ringing a bell and crying,' Bring out your dead.'
Stanza 5. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine,
lived in the fifth century b. c. Galen, who lived six
centuries later, wrote fifteen separate treatises on the
writings of Hippocrates. Both men were daring
thinkers, and notable for comparative freedom from
the superstitions and blind traditions of their age.
CHAPTER HEADINGS
BEAST AND MAN IN INDIA
'dark children of the mere and marsh*
In his chapter on 'Indian Buffaloes and Pigs,' John
Lockwood Kipling quotes a native proverb. 'Yoke a
buffalo and a bullock together and the buffalo will
head towards the pool, the ox to the upland,' and says,
'The buffalo bears the sun badly, and to thrive prop-
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erly should have free access to a pool or mud swamp.'
In 'Tiger-Tiger' {The Jungle Book) Rudyard Kipling
.describes how buffaloes 'get down into muddy pools
one after another, and work their way into the mud
till only their noses and staring china-blue eyes show
above the surface, and then they lie like logs.'
Their food the cattle's scorn. John Lockwood Kip-
ling says that 'one of many unpleasing features in
the practice of keeping milch buffaloes in great cities
is the usage of feeding them on stable refuse.'
Woe to those who dare
To rouse the herd bull from his keep.
The wild-boar from his lair.
In 'Tiger-Tiger' Rudyard Kipling describes the
killing of Shere Khan, the tiger, by a herd of tame
buffaloes under Mowgli's directions. In the same
story he says that the buffaloes, though allowing them-
selves to be bullied by the herd-children, would tram-
ple a white man to death. John Lockwood Kipling
says 'there is something ignominious in a party of
stalwart British sportsmen being treed by a herd of
angry buffaloes, and obliged to wait for a rescue at
the hands of a tiny naked herdsman's child, but this
has happened.' In the same chapter he says that the
wild boar has been known to face and defeat a tiger.
SONG OF THE FIFTH RIVER
This poem has for its text a saying of Kadmiel, the
Jew, in 'The Treasure and the Law' {Puck of Pook's
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Hill). 'There can be no war without gold, and we
Jews know how the earth's gold moves with the sea-
sons, and the crops and the winds ; circling and loop-
ing and rising and sinking away like a river — a won-
derful underground river.'
A devout Jew, in conversation with the writer of
these notes, once declared that the prosperity of every
European country has risen and waned according to
whether its treatment of the Jews was generous or the
reverse, and that no country could prosper without
Jewish inhabitants. He further declared his convic-
tion that the millennium would come when the Jews
returned to Palestine and became a united people.
Asked how, considering their relatively small num-
bers, they would impose universal peace upon the
world, and whether they would employ non-Jewish
armies, he replied that the employment of armies
would become unnecessary, since they would control
the world through the money market. No war from
the Crusades onwards, he said, had ever been waged
without Jewish consent, and war would have ceased
long since if the Jews had been able to agree among
themselves.
PARADE SONG OF THE CAMP ANIMALS
Stanza i. We lent to Alexander the strength of
Hercules. Alexander the Great, after the invasion of
the Punjab in 328 b. c, retreated westwards, taking
with him elephants which were used by his successors
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in their wars. In 302 b. c. Seleucus sent to India for
a fresh supply, and thenceforward elephants, either
brought from India or bred in the royal stables, were
constantly used in the Seleucid armies. It appears,
however, that the Greeks, instead of attempting to
drive the elephants themselves, employed natives of
India for the purpose, i Maccabees vi. 37: 'And tow-
ers of wood were upon them, strong and covered, one
upon each beast, girt fast upon him with cunning con-
trivances; and upon each beast were two and thirty
valiant men, that fought upon them, beside his Indian.'
THE TWO-SIDED MAN
Stanza 3. Shaman, Ju-ju, or Angekok
Minister, Mukamuk, Bonze.
Shaman. The word is loosely applied to the priests
of many low types of religions. In its correcter and
more restricted sense it means a priest of the Tun-
guses, inhabitants of the Yenesei Valley in Asiatic
Russia. A Shaman's duty is to control good and
evil spirits, to perform sacrifices, and deliver oracles.
A Shaman is by no means necessarily a conscious
fraud. Doubtless much of his magic seems to miss
its intended effect, but probably a good half of it
seems to succeed enough to preserve his reputation
and his own self-esteem.
Ju-ju. The word has wandered far from its origi-
nal meaning. It is derived from the French joujou,
a doll or toy, and with this meaning was applied by
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early French navigator-explorers to the idols vener-
ated by the negroes of the West Coast of Africa. It
has come to mean the religion of the people who
worship these idols. The average European who now
uses the word supposes it to be an African word, but
the negro who uses it firmly believes it to be English.
Angekok. An Eskimo priest or medicine man.
Any Eskimo who believes that when in a state of
trance he can visit Sedna, the Queen of the Under-
world (see 'Quiquern' in The Second Jungle Book),
can declare himself to be an angekok. The darkness
and intense silence of the long Arctic night tend to
produce in the Eskimo the abnormal state of mind
in which a man believes that he sees visions and holds
intercourse with supernatural beings. The extent of
credit that a self-constituted angekok can obtain
among his fellows depends largely on the intensity of
his own belief in his own powers. An angekok is sup-
posed to be able to kill by a mere wish, by the glance
of his eye, or by the terror inspired by his appearance ;
he is able also to divine people's thoughts, to know
the whereabouts of game, to prevent the fire-drill
from producing fire, to visit the moon (which is be-
lieved to be a man), and to find lost objects. He can
see the sins of men, and the dark colour of objects
that have come into contact with something tabooed,
and are thus to be avoided. An angekok cannot,
however — practical experience has probably taught
them this — see through falling snow or fog any better
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than an ordinary man. An angekok's chief duties
are to heal the sick and to propitiate Sedna and ani-
mals that, being offended by the violation of taboos
connected with them, will not allow themselves to be
killed. Angekoks have a special language of their own.
Mukamuk. A medicine man or sorcerer among the
Red Indians. Unlike the angekok, he is not self-
appointed. He must be selected from a family in
which priesthood is hereditary, and he must be very
carefully educated for and initiated into his duties.
Bonze. The European name for any member of a
Buddhist religious order.
LUKANNON
Lukannon is one of the seal-rookeries on the Island
of St. Paul in the Pribilof Group in the Bering Sea,
an island from which nearly half the world's supply
of sealskin is obtained. From May till August every
year about three million seals come there for the breed-
ing season, but only the young males (Russian hollus-
chickie, 'bachelors') are killed for their skins. The
adult males with their cows stay on the rocky shores,
but the young play about the sand-dunes and among
the salt lagoons inland. When the seals arrive the
island is covered with vegetation — grass, moss, lichen,
etc. — but this is quickly worn away by the seals, who,
moving about in their thousands, wear down even the
sand hummucks. The right to kill seals on St. Paul's
is farmed out by the United States Government.
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(See also notes on the envoy to 'The Rhyme of the
Three Sealers,' p. 132.)
Stanza 6. Wheel down, wheel down to Southward —
oh, Gooverooska go! Gooverooska is Russian for a
sea-gull {Larus brevirostris) of the same species as the
kittiwake. Russian is the language of the Pribilof
Islands, because they belonged to Russia before they
were ceded, together with Alaska, to the United
States.
AN ASTROLOGER'S SONG
Stanza i. While the Stars in their courses
Do fight on our side.
Cf. Judges V. 20: 'The stars in their courses fought
against Sisera.'
Stanza 5. The Sign that commands 'em. The
heavens are dominated in turn by each of the twelve
signs of the Zodiac — the Ram, the Bull, etc. These
constellations, according to astrologers, have a power-
ful influence over what happens on the earth. The
fate of a man, they believe, depends greatly upon the
stars that are rising at the moment of his birth, and
the relation between these stars and the signs of the
Zodiac.
THE BEE BOY'S SONG
The common superstition that bees must be told
every item of news is easy to explain. They seem to
be overwhelmed with curiosity as they fly into one
flower after another. As they are so valuable, and
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apparently liable to fly away at a moment's notice,
it is worth while to keep on good terms with them by
telling them the news.
Stanza 2. Where the fanners fan. Among the
many duties of worker-bees is that of keeping the hive
cool and ventilated by standing in the passages and
ceaselessly moving their wings. Much bee-lore is to
be found in the allegorical story 'The Mother Hive'
{Actions and Reactions).
MERROW DOWN
There runs a road by Merrow Down
A grassy track to-day it is.
And a wonderful road it is! One of the oldest in
Europe, and much older than the Roman roads that
run straight as arrows across and across England. It
is part of what is called the Pilgrim's Way, because
long ago pilgrims from the west of England and from
the west of France and Spain used to travel along it
to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury.
But the road was there long before Becket was born,
and even long before Canterbury was built. In fact,
so far from the road owing its existence to Canter-
bury, Canterbury owes its existence to the road. It
used to be the main road between the west of England
and the Straits of Dover, and is thus probably the
end of an old trade route that ran from Cornwall
across the Straits of Dover through France and
Switzerland to Greece, Italy, Troy, Crete, Egypt,
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and beyond. At Farnham, a few miles to the west
of Merrow Down, the road divides; the newer part
of it runs to Winchester and Southampton Water —
along that part of it the pilgrims from the west of
Europe came to Canterbury; the older part runs
to Stonehenge (Stonehenge is where it is because of
the road, so you may judge how old the road is) and
right through Devonshire and Cornwall to the tidal
island now called St. Michael's Mount, where the
Phoenicians made their camp when they traded with
the ancient Britons. This older part is still called the
Harrow Road (that is the 'hoary' or very old road).
The road is not straight like a Roman road, but fol-
lows wherever possible the line of the chalk downs,
and runs just below the crest of the downs on their
southern sides. There are several reasons for this.
Down in the valley travellers from or to the west of
England would have had to pass through the thick
forests, where they could not see far and were there-
fore liable to be attacked by the warlike tribes
through whose territory they passed. Up near the
top of the downs above the forest they could not be
attacked without having time to get ready to fight.
On the well-drained chalk downs, too, the ground
was drier than in the clay valleys and so easier to
walk on, and the south side of the downs along which
the old road runs is drier than the north side be-
cause it gets more sun. Why did not the travellers
who made the road walk along the top of the downs ?
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Because had they done so all the people from the
valleys below could have seen them against the sky-
line and could have had ample time to gather a large
force to attack them. There are so many interesting
things to say about this vi^onderful old road — such
as why it stops short at Canterbury instead of run-
ning on to one or other of the harbours in the Straits
of Dover — that whole books have been written about
it. One of the best is The Old Road, by Hilaire Belloc.
Looking southwards from Merrow Down you see
one of the prettiest valleys in England. You see
Broadstonebrook and Bramley (where the beavers
built their dams), and Shere that is now inhabited by
artists instead of bears, because it is one of the pret-
tiest villages in England. And on a hilltop near by
you can see St. Martha's church, which was built for
the pilgrims. (People think it was then called St.
Martyr's in honour of the martyr, Thomas Becket.)
John Bunyan is supposed to have had the whole scene
in his mind when he wrote The Pilgrim s Progress.
The Phoenicians carried their goods on packhorses
because the old road was not good enough for carts.
Their horses had bells on their necks so that they
could easily be found in the mornings after they had
been turned out to graze at night. The moccasins
that Taffy wore were shoes made of soft skin. They
fitted the foot like a glove, and so never made blisters
on her heels. They were much better than boots, too,
because she could walk up a steep rock much more
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
easily in soft moccasins than in hard-soled boots.
Red Indians still wear them and so do South African
Boers, but Boers call them 'veldtschoen.' When
Taffy wanted to send a message to her daddy she
made a fire by rubbing two sticks together, then she
put damp wood on to it so that it would make plenty
of smoke for him to see. Then she kept on covering
and uncovering it so as to make long and short
smokes. Australian blacks send messages to each
other in the same way. In the story that accom-
panies this poem, ' How the First Letter was Written,'
Rudyard Kipling says that Taffy is short for Taffimai
Metallumai, and that this means ' Small-person-
without-any-manners-who-ought-to-be-spanked.' I
wonder if he really knows!
OLD MOTHER LAIDINWOOL
Stanza i. This song is sung by Puck as, in the
form of Tom Shoesmith, he comes to the oast-house
in which Hobden is drying hops ('Dymchurch Flit'
in Puck of Pook's Hill) . As soon as Hobden sees his
friend he exclaims, 'They do say hoppin '11 draw the
very deadest, and now I belieft 'em.' The first two
lines are a quotation from an old song.
Stanza 3. With stockins on their hands. The
juice of the hop stains the hands almost as effectively
as walnut juice, and hops are prickly. The better
class hoppers, therefore, wear old gloves or some
other covering for the hands when at work.
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ArC none of 'em was foreigners. In the agricultural
districts of Sussex and Kent the villagers of each little
community speak of any kind of stranger as a
'foreigner.' In many districts local labour suffices to
gather the hop-harvest. In others labour is im-
ported temporarily from the London slums. The
local labourers consider themselves, with reason, to
be socially superior to the imported foreigners,
and endeavour to avoid mingling with them. In
fields that are picked by both local and imported
labour, the local people will take one side of the field
and leave the other to the 'foreigners.' In 'Dym-
church Flit ' {Puck of Book's Hill) Fuck, masquerad-
ing as Tom Shoesmith, in order to show that he is
a fit and proper person to be with Dan and Una,
assures the maidservant he is no 'foreigner.'
Stanza 4. An' she moved among the babies an' she
stilled 'em when they cried. In the hop-districts
hopping time is regarded as a profitable annual
holiday. Many of the small trades people and me-
chanics shut up their shops, and with their whole
families go to work in the fields. Maidservants
from large houses spend their 'afternoons off' in
the field, working a little and flirting a lot. Old
women come out of the almshouses to help their
daughters pick, and five-year-old children work for
a while in the intervals between picking black-
berries and sleeping in the sun. The smallest chil-
dren of all, who must necessarily be brought to the
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field, as the houses are all shut up, are left in their
perambulators in charge of some aged volunteer
nurse.
CHAPTER HEADINGS
JUST-SO STORIES
'when the cabin port-holes are dark and
green'
Why, then you will know {if you haven't guessed)
You're 'fifty north and forty west!'
Strictly speaking, the part of the world's surface
that is known as 50° N. and 40° W. (fifty degrees
north of the equator and forty west of Greenwich)
is a little more than half-way from London to New
York on the course that the great liners take, but
it is an old sea expression for any part of the mid-
Atlantic that is rough and unpleasant. If you
complained, in the hearing of a seasoned traveller,
that the passage between Dover and Calais was not
exactly smooth, the latter would almost certainly
put on a superior air and say, 'You wait till you've
been Fifty North and Forty West!'
'this is the mouth-filling song of the race
THAT WAS RUN BY A BoOMER'
A Boomer is the same as an Old-Man-Kaugaroo,
that is the biggest kind of kangaroo. You will not
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
find Warrigaborrigarooma on the map of Australia,
because the race between the kangaroo and the
Yellow-Dog Dingo happened so long ago. All the
names of Australian places are shorter now; such
as Warragamba, Burrangong, Cumbooglecumbbng,
Goondiwindi, Ringarooma, etc. The dingo is the
wild Australian dog. It is generally all yellow, but
sometimes it has a white tip to its tail like a fox.
It is the only Australian mammal except the bat
that has not got a pocket in which to put its young
ones.
'china going p. and o's
PASS PAU AMMA's playground CLOSE.'
Pau Amma is the giant king-crab that ranges from
Singapore to Torres Straits. Learned people call
him Tachypleus gigas moluccanus. The Malays be-
lieve that there is a huge hole in the bottom of the
sea, and that Pau Amma sits on the top of it. When
he comes out for food the water pours through this
hole into the underworld, and that makes the tide
go down. When he goes back to it again the water
cannot flow through the hole, and as plenty of rivers
are all the time pouring water into the sea it fills up.
That makes the tide rise. The hole is called Pusat
Tasek. You can read about it in a book called
Malay Magic, by W. W. Skeat.
P. and O.'s means Peninsula and Oriental ships
that go from London to India, China, and Australia.
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
B. I.'s are British India boats. Some of them go past
Pusat Tasek to China, the PhiUppine Islands, and
Queensland, but some don't go near it, as they have
to go to the Persian Gulf or East Africa instead, N.
Y. K.'s are Nippon Yusen Kaisha; they are Japanese
steamers running to Europe. N. D. L.'s are German
Nord-deutscher-Lloyd boats. They run to Eastern
Asia and Australia as well as to America. M. M.'s
are the French Messageries Maritimes steamers.
They go to China, Australia, and New Caledonia.
Rubattinos are Italian steamers, running from Genoa
to Hong-Kong. The A. T. L. (Atlantic Transport
Line) only goes from London to New York. The
D. O. A. is the German East African line (Deutsche-
Ost-Afrika). Their ships go right round Africa, out-
wards by the east coast and homewards by the west
coast, or vice versa. The Orient liners go round the
south of Australia, so they do not go near the Malay
Peninsula. The Anchor boats stop short at the
Indian ports ; those of the Bibby line get no farther
than Burma. The U. C. L. is the Union-Castle Line
running round Africa. The Beavers go to West
Africa. The Shaw Savill steamers go round the
world, touching at the Cape and New Zealand,
then home round the Horn. The White Star boats
go to America, to the Mediterranean, to South
Africa and Australia, but do not go near the East
Indies.
There is not really any such person as Mr. Lloyds.
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Over two hundred years ago shipping merchants used
to meet to discuss business at a coffee-house kept by-
Edward Lloyd in London, who also published a news-
paper about shipping matters called Lloyds' News.
The present great association of merchants and ship-
owners called Lloyds takes its name from the coffee-
house where it originated.
Mangosteens are considered by many people to be
the most delieious fruit in the world. You cut
through a thick reddish brown rind and find inside
a soft, very juicy, snow-white pulp that looks like a
water-ice and tastes rather like red-currants, and a
little bit like acid drops. You cannot taste mangos-
teens unless you go to Ceylon or the East Indies, be-
cause they will not grow anywhere else, and the fruit
cannot be sent all over the world as bananas and
oranges can, because they are too delicate.
'there was never a queen like balkis'
Balkis was the name of the Queen of Sheba who
came to see Solomon because she heard how wonder-
fully wise he was. She is said to have married Solo-
mon and to have had a son called Menelek, who was
the first king of Abyssinia, but you will not find that
in the Bible. You will find stories about Solomon and
the Queen of Sheba in the Koran, which is the Sacred
Book of the Mohammedans. Sabaea is that part of
Arabia that is now called Yemen, at the back of
Aden.
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THE QUEEN'S MEN
This poem, which precedes the story 'Gloriana' (Rewards and
Fairies), is there entitled ' The Two Cousins'
Stanza 3. Belphcebe is a character in Spenser's
Faerie Queen intended to portray Queen Elizabeth.
GOW'S WATCH
Tiercel. A name appUed to the male of various
kinds of falcon, chiefly the peregrine.
Jt hack. In the state of partial liberty which a
hawk must enjoy after it has been trained to come to
the lure but before it is used in the field. As soon as
the hawk begins to prey for itself it should be 'taken
up' from hack.
Eyass. A hawk that has been brought up from the
nest.
Passage hawk. A hawk captured when 'on pass-
age,' i. e. migrating. Such a hawk is harder to train
than an eyass, but can work more effectively. As it
has already developed its powers of flight it need not
be kept so long 'at hack' as must an eyass.
Footed. Killed its prey.
Binds to. Clings to. A glove is always worn on
the hand that carries a hawk.
Firings. Food.
Make-hawk. A thoroughly trained and reliable
hawk flown with young hawks to teach them their
work.
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In yarak. Keen and in good condition.
Manned. Well trained.
Weathered. Inured to the open air. The initial
training of a hawk is carried on in a darkened room.
Cozen advantage. Win an advantage by cunning.
What's caught in Italy. In Tudor times Italy was
regarded as a hot-bed of atheism and vice. Men of
fashion who went th^re to obtain culture and brought
home vicious habits instead were called 'Italianate'
Englishmen. Syphilis was called ' the Italian disease.'
A coil. Source of trouble.
Coney-catch. Literally ' to catch rabbits ' — to poach.
Gerb, from the French gerbe, 'a sheaf.' A kind of
firework somewhat like a Roman candle, but usually
larger. Its sparks take the shape of a sheaf of wheat.
SONG OF THE RED WAR BOAT
The date assigned to this poem (683 a. d.) is two
years after St. Wilfrid began the work of converting
the men of Sussex to Christianity.
Watch for a smooth. The following definition of
'a smooth' is given in Captain Marryat's Poor Jack:
— 'Occasionally a master-wave, as it is termed, from
being of larger dimensions than its predecessors, pours
its whole volume on the beach ; after which, by watch-
ing your time, you will find that two waves will
run into one another, and, as it were, neutralise each
other, so that, for a few seconds, you have what they
call "a smooth."'
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Stanza i. 'Give way.' The 'way' of a boat is its
motion through the water. 'Give way' therefore
means 'get her going.'
A Lop is a short choppy sea caused by the direct
action of thewind, asopposedtothelongheavingwaves
of a swell which follow and often precede a storm.
Stanza 3. Me ether. In working a boat out in the
teeth of a heavy sea it is necessary to meet each wave
squarely with the boat's bow. If a big wave catches the
boat at an angle it will twist her ' broadside on,' i. e. par-
allel to its course, fill her with water, and swamp her.
Stanza 4. Thor's own hammer. Thunder.
Stanza 6. Break her back in the trough. The pres-
sure put on a long boat in the trough of the sea —
that is, between two great waves — is tremendous.
Her stern is held up by the receding wave and her
bow by the oncoming wave, but as there is nothing to
support her amidships she is liable to sag and break.
Stanza 7. Mead. A fermented drink that the
Saxons made from honey.
Two-reef sailing. Sailing with a sail the area of
which is reduced by rolling up two reefs. In a mod-
erate breeze one reef would be taken in; in a light
breeze the whole sail would be used.
A RIPPLE SONG
'Maiden, wait,' the ripple saith,
' Wait awhile for I am Death. '
The ripple is caused by Jacala, the crocodile.]
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BUTTERFLIES
This song, as printed in Traffics and Discoveries, is
called 'Kaspar's Song in "Varda" (from the Swedish
of Stagnelius).' Stagnelius, who died in 1823, at the
age of thirty, has been called the Swedish Shelley.
The poem is, however, the work of Rudyard Kipling.
In Traffics and Discoveries the second line of the poem,
in place of 'the children follow the butterflies,' has
'The children follow where. Psyche flies.'
Psyche in Greek mythology represented the human
soul. In Greek and Greco-Roman art she was repre-
sented sometimes as a beautiful girl with a bird's or a
butterfly's wings, sometimes simply as a butterfly.
THE NURSING SISTER
Stanza i. Our little maid that hath no breasts.
Cf. Song of Solomon viii. 8: 'We have a little sister,
and she hath no breasts.'
THE ONLY SON
This poem precedes the story 'In the Rukh' {Many
Inventions) that deals with the manhood of Mowgli,
who, as a child, had a wolf for foster-mother. Stories
of wolf-reared children are as old as the story of
Romulus and Remus, but usually these have been
regarded as mere legends. In the ninth volume of
the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. ix.,
however, Mr. V. Ball, of the Indian Geological Survey,
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
presented evidence which he had collected on the
subject. A correspondent of Mr. Ball's furnished
him with particulars of a man whom the natives said
had been nourished by a wolf foster-mother. This
man had several wolf-like characteristics. He smelt
all food offered to him before deciding whether or not
to eat it, and hid such food as he did not eat at the
moment under the straw of his bedding. He grunted
as a sign of recognition, but could not speak. He
walked on the front portion of the foot, the heels
being raised from the ground and the knees bent,
'in fact, one could readily suppose that he had
as a child progressed in a stooping position, using
both hands and feet. The hands were bent back
but not stiff. He kept them in this position when
taking anything offered to him instead of clutching
it.'
Line 13. Tyre. Sour or curdled milk.
MOWGLI'S SONG AGAINST PEOPLE
Stanza i . And the Karela, the bitter Karela
Shall cover it all.
The Karela, as appears from the story which precedes
this poem in The Second Jungle Book, is a wild vine,
bearing a bitter gourd, that spreads rapidly and soon
overgrows ground deserted by human beings. Jungle
growth is so swift that a man might often pass through
what had been a village only a year or so before and
notice no trace of human habitation until his atten-
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
tion was arrested by the fact that the vegetation
immediately around him was different from that
farther away. The vegetation covering a recently
ruined village would all be of a quick-growing kind.
CHAPTER HEADINGS
THE JUNGLE BOOKS
The following words need explanation to those who
have not read The Jungle Books: —
Sambhur. The Indian elk.
Jacala. The crodocile.
Nag. The snake.
Tabaqui. The jackal.
'at the hole where he went in
red-eye called to wrinkle skin.'
Red-eye is the Indian mongoose, described in the
story * Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.' The mongoose is as eager
to hunt and kill snakes as a dog is to catch rabbits.
So seldom is the mongoose killed by the poison of
a snake, that the Hindus believe that after fight-
ing it goes off and eats a vegetable antidote. The
mongoose, however, relies entirely on its wonder-
ful agility and on the thickness of its bottle-brush
fur. The snake cannot eject venom unless its jaws
are closed, and it cannot make them close on the
thick hair.
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
THE EGG-SHELL
The first and last stanzas of this -poem precede the second part
of the story ' Their Lawful Occasions' in Traffics and Discoveries.
The second stanza does not appear there.
Stanza i. An egg-shell
With a little Blue Devil inside.
A torpedo-boat and the lieutenant in charge.
Stanza 2. The sights are just coming on. The
sights by which the Whitehead torpedo is aimed are
just coming into Une with the object at which it is to
be discharged.
THE KING'S TASK
The first eighteen lines of this poem precede the story
' The Comprehension of Private Copper ' in Traffics
and Discoveries, and appear in chapter ii. of A School
History of England. The remaining lines appear
only in Songs from Books. The latter should he
compared with ' The Islanders' and ' The Lesson' (Five
Nations).
Line 2. Saint Wilfrid. The first to preach Chris-
tianity in Sussex (see note 'Sussex/ stanza 7, p. 219).
Line 8. Andred' s Wood. Andredsweald — the for-
est land or 'Weald' of Sussex, between the North
and South Downs.
Line 9. The Witan. The Council. Each of the
English kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon times had its sep-
arate witan, which made laws, imposed taxes, con-
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
eluded treaties, and advised the king on affairs of
state.
Flaying. Pillage.
Line lo. In Traffics and Discoveries the first part
of this line runs ' Falkland, common and pannage ' in
place of ' Common, loppage and pannage.'
Falkland. Land owned by permission (or the
customary law) of the people, as to the ownership of
which it was unnecessary to produce documentary
proof. (The opposite was 'bookland,' held by royal
privilege and attested by documents.) The owner of
folkland could not bequeath it to any but a kinsman
and could not sell it without the permission of his
kinsmen.
Common. Each Anglo-Saxon town or village pos-
sessed an area of arable land that was the property not
of individuals but of the community. Strips of the
land were assigned to each householder. In the very
early days, possibly, he took as much land as he could
cover from end to end by throwing a hammer. Thus
each man received as much as he had strength enough
to cultivate. The householder enjoyed the exclusive
use of his strip from ploughing-time to harvest, but
as soon as his crop was gathered the land reverted
to the community. The poorest was left waste for
pasturage, to supply fuel, etc. : this waste land is now
the common of the present day.
Pannage. The right to feed swine in a wood or
forest.
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
Loppage. The steward of a large manor, applied
to for the meaning of this word, said that he did not
know the meaning although the word frequently oc-
curred in leases that he drew up. Presumably it
means the right to lop trees, i. e. remove their super-
fluous branches without interfering with the trunk.
The theft and the track of kine. If stolen cattle were
tracked by their footprints to within reasonable dis-
tance of a village, that village was held responsible
for the theft, but the community could clear itself if
it could track the stolen cattle to some other village.
Line 14. Rudely but deeply they bedded the plinth
of the days to come. It has been said that modern
English law is based on Saxon customs moulded by
Norman lawyers. It forms the foundation of the law
in England, the British overseas dominions, and the
United States of America.
Line 18. Our ancient headlands. Saxon fields
were not enclosed with hedges. Their shape was
commonly one furlong {i. e. furrow-long) in length
and four rods in breadth. Between one field and
the next at the head of the furrows, the space where
the plough oxen turned was left untilled and was
called a headland.
The eight-ox plough. In the Anglo-Saxon com-
munities the heavy plough in use belonged to the
community, each householder taking his turn to use
it and employing his own oxen for the purpose.
Line 19. There came a king from Hamtun, by
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
Bosenham he came. The ancient kingdom of Sussex
was invaded several tinaes by Wessex kings, but the
invasion here recorded is an imaginary incident
having an allegorical reference to the danger of
national unpreparedness for war. Possibly Britain's
unpreparedness for the Boer War inspired it. Ham-
tun, or Hamtune, was the Saxon name for South-
ampton. Bosenham is the Domesday Book spelling
of the modern Bosham, a village situated on an arm
of Chichester harbour.
Line 22. Cymen's Ore (Cymenes Ora; sometimes
written Cymenshore) is probably Chichester har-
bour, where the ships of the Saxon invaders, under
Aella and his three sons, Cymen, Wlencing, and
Cissa, anchored in 477 a.d.
Line 25. Beechmast. The fruit of the beech-tree
was formerly used for human food in time of famine.
At other times it was given to pigs.
Beltane fires. Beltane is Celtic for May day, on
which day bonfires were lit on hilltops, two together,
and betwe6n these the cattle were driven. A beltane
cake was cooked at one of the fires. It was then
divided into pieces, one piece being blackened with
charcoal. The pieces of cake were then apportioned
by lot to those present. Whoever received the
blackened piece was pelted with egg-shells, and for
some weeks afterwards was regarded as dead. Prob-
ably the custom was a relic of the sacrifice of both
oxen and human beings. It survived in the north-
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
east of Scotland until the latter part of the eighteenth
century.
Line 26. The beeves were salted thrice. Until the
introduction, at a comparatively recent date, of
winter roots and herbs, English farmers knew no
method of fattening their stock in winter. Oxen
were consequently killed in autumn, when they were
at their fattest, the beef was salted, and for the next
six months even the wealthiest had little fresh meat.
POSEIDON'S LAW
In Greek mythology Poseidon was god of the sea ;
his brothers Zeus and Pluto reigning over earth and
the underworld.
Stanza i. When the robust and Brass-bound Man
commissioned first for sea. Cf. Horace, Od., i. 3:
'lUi robur et aes triplex
Circa pectus erat qui fragilem truci
Commisit pelago ratem
Primus.'
(Surely oak and threefold brass surrounded his heart who
first trusted a frail vessel to the wild sea.)
Stanza 3. Hadria. The Adriatic Sea.
Stanza 5. A dromond was a mediaeval warship of
a type first used by the Saracens. When Richard i.
was on his way to Palestine his ship was attacked by
a huge dromond — *a marvellous ship, a ship than
which, except Noah's ark, none greater was ever read
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
of.' This vessel was three masted, and carried
fifteen hundred men on board. In Hakluyt's Li-
bellus de politia conservativa maris, or, The Pollicy oj
keeping the Sea, reference is made to Henry the
Fifth's 'great Dromons, which passed other great
shippes of all the commons.'
A catafract was a Greek galley provided with
bulwarks to protect the rowers; an 'afract' was a
galley in which the upper tier of rowers was not so
protected. A bireme was a galley that had two tiers
of rowers, one above the other.
Stanza 6. In each set of three rowers in a trireme's
crew the thranite sat on the highest, and the thalamite
on the lowest, of the three oar-benches.
Stanza 7. Punt was the name of a land from
which the ships of the ancient Egyptians brought in-
cense, gold, and ivory. It is supposed to be identical
with what is now called Somaliland.
Phormio's Fleet. Phormio was an Athenian ad-
miral of the fifth century B.C. In the Peloponnesian
War he defeated, with twenty ships, the Corinthian
fleet of forty-seven sail. A fleet of seventy-seven
sail was then sent against him, and in the action
that followed, though nine of his ships went aground,
he defeated the enemy and won complete control of
the Greek seas.
Javan was a land with which the sailors of ancient
Tyre traded for slaves and other commodities. Cf.
Ezekiel xxvii. 13 and 19: 'Javan, Tubal, and Me-
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
shech, they were thy merchants: they traded the
persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.
. . . Dan also and Javan going to and fro occu-
pied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamusj
were in thy market.' By some authorities Javan is
supposed to have been a vague name for the farthest
parts of the Mediterranean known in the time of
Ezekiel, and to have included Carthage and Tarshish.
Others believe it to have been all lands colonised
by the Ionian Greeks, and to have included Tarshish,
Cyprus, and Rhodes.
Gadire. The modern Cadiz.
Falernian or smoked Massilian juice. In ancient
times the *Ager Falernus' in Campania produced
the best wine in all Italy. The Greeks introduced
the vine into their colony of Massilia (the modern
Marseilles), and by the first century a.d. MassiUan
wine competed with Italian wine in the Italian
market.
A TRUTHFUL SONG
Stanza 9. Sheet. A rope with which the corner
of a sail is held in position.
Lift. A rope descending from the masthead to the
end of the yard.
Brace. A rope extending from the end of the yard
to a belaying pin on the ship's side by means of
which the position of the yard with reference to the
wind is adjusted.
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
Lead. Trend or direction. So many ropes de-
scend from a ship's rigging and are made fast to its
bulwarks that it is difficult for the eye to follow up-
wards the 'lead' of any one in order to see to what it
Is attached aloft. As it is of prime importance for a
seaman to understand the work performed by each
rope (he must often find them by touch on pitch
dark nights), the first thing he must learn on going
to sea is the 'lead' of each individual rope.
Stanza ii. Or it might be Ham {though his skin
was dark). Old-fashioned ethnologists believed all
the negro races of the world to be descended from
Ham.
Stanza 12. Your wheel is new. No detail of a
ship has altered more than the steering-gear. The
tiller displaced the steering-oar in the fourteenth
century. The tiller grew with the growth of ships
until in the sixteenth century it had to be controlled
by elaborate block-and-tackle gear. The modern
wheel replaced the tiller comparatively recently.
Hooker. A natural term of endearment for a
ship.
A SMUGGLER'S SONG
The worthy parsons who allowed their churches to
be used as stores for smuggled goods, and received
in acknowledgment of their complacency many pres-
ents of brandy, lace, or tobacco, were no doubt
inspired by excellent motives. Adam Smith, the
335
SONGS FROM BOOKS
eighteenth-century economist, described a smuggler
as 'a person who, though no doubt highly blameable
for violating the laws of his country, is frequently
incapable of violating those of natural justice, and
would have been in every respect an excellent citizen
had not the laws of his country made that a crime
which nature never meant to be so.'
KING HENRY VII. AND THE
SHIPWRIGHTS
Stanza i. At Hamuli on the Hoke, better known
as Hamble-le-rice, was the principal roadstead at
which royal ships were laid up from the time of
Henry v. till towards the close of the reign of Henry
VII. The Hamble is an estuary branching out of
Southampton Water. Though the county of Hamp-
shire is called 'Hampshire' on maps, it is still called
the ' County of Southampton ' in many documents.
Stanza 4. Strakes. A strake is one breadth of
planks in a ship's side forming a continuous strip
from stem to stern.
Stanza 6. Robert Brigandyne was appointed Clerk
of the Ships by Henry vii. He was ' a yeoman of the
crown,' i. e. in the personal service of the king, and
received 'twelve pence a day and sixpence a day for
a clerk under him.' He superintended the construc-
tion of England's first dry dock.
Stanza 8. Gramercy. Thank you much (French,
grand merci).
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
Pricking. Riding, spurring.
Stanza ii. The navy of Henry vii., which in-
cluded the ships here mentioned, numbered only
twelve or thirteen vessels in all. The Mary of the
Tower was a Spanish carrack bought by Edward iv.
for £ioo. The Grace Dieu (Henri Grace a Dieu) was
built in the same reign. The Sweepstakes was the
'King's rowbarge.' She carried eighty oars, but
had three masts as well. She was built by Henry
VII., as was also the Mary Fortune, also a three-masted
vessel equipped with sixty oars. These last two cost
together £231 to build. The Sovereign was a three-
masted vessel, built in 1447 and rebuilt in 1509. In
1525 her repair was urged on the ground that her
lines were 'so marvellously goodly that great pity
it were she should die.' It seems, however, that she
was broken up,
THE WET LITANY
Stanza 2. When the wash along the side
Sounds, a sudden, magnified.
When a ship suddenly slows down owing to fog or for
other reasons, the lessening of the noise from the
engines emphasises the sound of the water washing
along her sides.
The intolerable blast. During a fog a steamer's
siren is blown at frequent intervals.
Stanza 3. The fog-buoys squattering flight. When
warships steam in 'line ahead formation' in thick
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
weather, each tows a fog-buoy astern at a distance ol
200 yards or less.
When the lettered doorways close. Battleships are
built in water-tight compartments, the doors between
which are closed when there is any danger of a colli-
sion. The doors are indicated by letters.
Stanza 4. Lessened count. The leadsman who is
standing in the chains cries the depth of water each
time he takes a sounding. If he reports less depth
each minute, the ship is obviously in danger of run-
ning aground.
Stanza 5. Our next ahead. When warships dur-
ing manoeuvres steam in line one behind another, a
seaman refers to the ship immediately ahead of his
own as the 'next ahead.' The minimum distance
that should be preserved between ships steaming in
the 'line ahead' formation is 800 yards.
THE BALLAD OF MINEPIT SHAW
Stanza i. The Pelhams are an old Sussex family.
They came into the county in the reign of Edward iii.
John Pelham was Constable of Pevensey Castle under
Richard 11. Sir Thomas Pelham was one of the
Knights for Sussex in Elizabeth's Parliament. Thomas
Pelham was created Earl of Chichester in 1501.
Stanza 5. The Folk of the Hill. Fairies should
never be spoken of as such by mortals lest they should
be offended. They should be referred to by some
such name as the 'People of the Hills' or 'The Little
338
SONGS FROM BOOKS
People.' Obviously a fairy speaking of his own people
will also use one of these pseudonyms. In the story
'Weland's Sword' {Puck of Book's Hill), Puck is will-
ing to sing the song ' Farewell, Rewards and Fairies,'
except the first line, as that contains the word to which
he objects.
Stanza 8. The fairies could not help the poachers
while they had iron in their hands (see note, 'Cold
Iron,' p. 282).
Stanza 16. Pharisee is the Sussex word for fairy.
The colloquial plural for fairy — fairieses — ^was proba-
bly well rooted in the dialect long before the transla-
tion of the Bible, and its subsequent use in church
made Sussex men familiar with the word Pharisee. It
is said that some old Sussex people still believe that
the Pharisees mentioned in the Gospels are the 'Little
People.'
HERIOT'S FORD
Stanza i. Hirples. Runs with a limp.
Stanza 3. 'Oh, who will stay the suns descent?'
King Joshua he is dead, my lord.
'Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the
Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children
of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand
thou still upon Gibeon ; and thou. Moon, in the valley
of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon
stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon
their enemies' (Joshua x. 12, 13).
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
FRANKIE'S TRADE
Mr. W. B. Whall, Master Mariner, in his Preface
to Sea-songs, Ships and Shanties, regrets that it was
not Rudyard KipHng's destiny to go to sea, as he would
have made a splendid chantey-man. This song is on
the true chantey model. The refrain * A-hay O! To
me O!' in this or in very similar form is to be found
in many chanties.
Stanza i. It is almost certain that from infancy
until he went to sea Francis Drake lived on a con-
demned warship moored in Gillingham Reach just
below Chatham. Thus from childhood he must have
learned to notice movements of tides and currents
among sandbanks and tortuous channels, and have
been familiar with every phase of wind and calm. As
soon as he was old enough Edmund Drake ' by reason
of his poverty put his son to the master of a bark,
which he used to cruise along the shore and sometimes
to carry merchandise into Zeeland and France ' ! The
master of the barque died and left it by will to Drake,
who thus commanded his own ship before he was
eighteen.
Stanza 5. / made him pull and I made him haul.
On his voyage round the world Drake was troubled
with 'such controversy between the sailors and the
gentlemen and such stomaching between the gentle-
men and sailors that it doth even make me mad to
hear of it,' He summoned all his crews together and
340
SONGS FROM BOOKS
told them plainly, ' I must have the gentleman to haul
and draw with the mariner and the mariner with the
gentleman.'
Stand his trick. Take his turn at steering.
Stanza 7. A five-knot tide. A tide running at the
rate of five knots an hour — roughly five miles an hour.
THORKILD'S SONG
Stanza i. Stavanger is one of the oldest of Nor-
wegian seaports, founded in the eighth or ninth cen-
tury.
Stanza 8. A three-reef gale. A wind strong
enough to make it necessary to reduce the area of the
mainsail by taking in three reefs.
ANGUTIVAUN TAINA
Those who wish to compare this * Song of the Re-
turning Hunter' with the original will find both words
and music, together with much wonderfully interest-
ing matter concerning the people of Tununirmiut, in
a paper by Dr. Franz Boas entitled 'The Central
Eskimo,' published in the Sixth Annual Report of the
American Bureau of Ethnology.
THE SONG OF THE MEN'S SIDE
In Rewards and Fairies this song follows a tale
('The Knife and the Naked Chalk') in which a Neo-
lithic flint-worker of Cissbury Ring on the South
Downs sacrifices an eye in order to obtain a knife
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
from a neighbouring tribe, the * Children of the Night/
whose home was in the Weald. With this knife he
drives off the Beast (i. e. the wolf) that preyed upon
the flint-workers' flocks. On account of this service
he is believed to be 'the son of Tyr, the God who put
his right hand in a Beast's mouth.'
Stanza i . The Beast. The Wolf. In stanza 3 he
is referred to as Shepherd of the Twilight, Feet in the
Night, Dog without a Master, and Devil in the Dusk.
In many parts of the world, especially in savage coun-
tries, it is believed that if a dangerous animal is men-
tioned by its proper name it will revenge itself on whom-
ever so mentions it. In southern India, for instance,
the tiger is called 'the dog' or 'the jackal,' and Ben-
gali women call a snake 'the creeping thing.' The
Bechuanas call the lion 'the boy with the beard.'
The Lapps call the bear ' the old man with the coat of
skin,' and at the present day wolves are not called by
their proper name in some parts of Germany, though
this restriction only applies to the winter, when wolves
are most dangerous. It is fairly certain, therefore,
that our primitive ancestors in Britain never called
the wolf by his proper name.
Flint-Workers. The inhabitants of the South Downs,
in the later Stone Age, were a pastoral tribe. This
we know from the cattle tracks that lead in and out
of their encampments. The flint quarries and frag-
ments of flint weapons and tools that have been found
in these encampments show them also to have been
342
SONGS FROM BOOKS
expert flint-workers (see note to 'Puck's Song/ stan-
zas 9 and lo, p. 275, and to 'Sussex,' stanza 6, p. 217).
The Buyer of the Blade. By reason of his great
sacrifice the Buyer of the Blade had become divine.
He might no longer therefore be spoken of or ad-
dressed by his proper name, which had become 'taboo'
or sacred. Among Semitic peoples none but a few
priests know the true name of God. Such words as
Jehovah and Allah are pseudonyms.
Room for his shadow on the grass. Primitive sav-
ages regard a man's shadow as his visible soul or spirit.
The Baganda, the Tolindos of Celebes, the Ottawa
Indians, and many others believe that it is possible
to injure a man by striking a blow at his shadow.
Hence it would be an act of sacrilege to stand on the
shadow of a divine man such as the Buyer of the
Blade.
The great god Tyr. Tyr was the Scandinavian god
of battle, after whom Tuesday is named. His fight
with a wolf forms the design of an ornamental sign-
post erected by King George v. on one of his estates.
As the exploits of a hero are embellished by tradition
among primitive people, the hero himself comes to be
regarded as divine.
Stanza 2. The Children of the Night. The in-
habitants of the forest to the north of the Downs.
The barrows of the dead. Neolithic men buried
their dead (sometimes after cremation) in long cham-
bers lined with immense stones and covered with
343
SONGS FROM BOOKS
earth. The remains of these are now called in England
'barrows.' (See note on 'Sussex,' stanza 4, p. 217.)
The Women's side. In many primitive communi-
ties the division between men and women is sharper
than among civilised people. In some cases, as
among the Zulus, the women speak a language that
differs materially from that spoken by men. In some
communities all the unmarried men in a community
live together in one large hut and all the unmarried
women in another. Among some Australian tribes
the 'gunyahs' or leaf-huts of the married people are
in the centre of the camp, those of bachelors and
widowers on one side, and those of spinsters and
widows on the other.
Stanza 3. Hai, Tyr, aie! No traces of the lan-
guage of British Neolithic man have been preserved
(the Celtic invasion of Britain did not begin till after
the Stone Age), but as aie is a sound of woe all the
world over, we may conjecture that 'Hai, Tyr, aie!'
means *0 Tyr, help us!'
DARZEE'S CHAUNT
A darzee is an Indian tailor. In the story 'Rikki-
tikki-tavi,' which accompanies this poem in The Jun-
gle Book, it is applied to the Indian tailor-bird, so-
called because it makes its nest by 'pulling two big
leaves together and stitching them up the edges with
fibres, filling the hollow with cotton and downy fluff.'
The song is in honour of the mongoose, called Rikki-
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SONGS FROM BOOKS
tikki-tavi from his battle-cry, who killed Nag, the
cobra that had eaten one of Darzee's nestlings.
THE PRAYER
My brother kneels, so saith Kabir,
To stone and brass in heathen-wise.
Kabir was a religious reformer of northern India in
the fifteenth century (see note, 'A Song of Kabir,'
p. 282).
34S
A School History of England
THE ROMAN CENTURION
Stanza i. Legate. This was the title of the
senior subordinate officer of the governor of a Roman
colony.
Cohort. A tenth part of a Roman legion. It
numbered between three hundred and six hundred
soldiers.
Portus Itius was the name given by Julius Caesar
to the French port from which he made his second
invasion of Britain. Historians do not know exactly
where it was, but are agreed that it was near Cape
Grisnez, to the north of Boulogne.
Stanza 2. Vectis, the Roman name for the Isle of
Wight. The Wall was the wall built across Britain
from the Tyne to the Solway Firth. An older wall,
built by Antoninus Pius from the Forth to the Clyde,
had been abandoned before the Romans began to
evacuate Britain.
Stanza 5. Rhodanus. The Rhone.
Nemausus. Nimes, in the south of France, where
are still to be seen remains of an amphitheatre once
capable of holding 24,000 people, temples, baths,
forts, and other Roman buildings.
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A SCHOOL HISTORY OF ENGLAND
Arelate. Aries, the principal seat of the Emperor
Constantine.
Euroclydon. The north-east wind, from Greek
euros, east wind, and kludon, wave.
Stanza 6. The old Aurelian Road ran along the
shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea from Genoa to Rome.
THE PIRATES IN ENGLAND
Stanza 6. The shield-hung hull. The Viking ships
were manned by men who rowed at sea and fought
ashore. Each man hung his shield over the ship's
side beside his seat on the rowing bench. There it
was ready to his hand but out of his way — there
was little room on the crowded deck of a Viking ship
— and also served the purpose of sheltering him
during a sea-fight.
Stanza 7. The -painted eyes. The stems of the
Viking ships carried elaborately carved figureheads
on long necks. Like Chinese ships of modern times,
the ships had painted eyes on their bows so that they
should see their course.
Stanza 8. Count of the Saxon Shore. A noble-
man of high rank appointed under the English kings
to guard the south-east coasts, which were more
liable to attack than other coasts of England.
THE SAXON FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLAND
(See notes on lines i to 18, 'The King's Task,'
p. 328.)
347
A SCHOOL HISTORY OF ENGLAND
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR'S WORK
Stanza 3. It shall have one speech and law. Al-
though WiUiam brought England under one law,
local custom was so strong that in parts local cus-
toms having the force of laws differed from the law
of the land until quite recent times. Thus the tin-
miners of Cornwall were exempt from all jurisdiction
other than that of their own Parliament, the Stan-
naries, except in cases affecting land, life, and limb,
until the middle of the eighteenth century. The
law of 'gavelkind,' which affects the tenure of land,
is still in force in Kent.
NORMAN AND SAXON
Stanza 3. You can horsewhip your Gascony archers,
or torture your Picardy spears. At the time imme-
diately following the Norman conquest of England,
portions of France were so often conquered and
reconquered in the wars between rival princes, that
men such as the Gascons and Picards scarcely knew,
and did not care at all, who was their lawful sovereign.
One ruler after another hired them to fight, with the
result that they formed themselves into bands called
'Free Companies,' ready to fight for any one, their
lawful king or any one else who chose to pay them.
Thane. An Anglo-Saxon title for a man who was
below a nobleman but above a small landowner. If
a churl throve so that he became owner of at least
348
A SCHOOL HISTORY OF ENGLAND
'five hides of land, church and kitchen, bell-house and
burhgate-seal,' he was entitled to rank as a thane.
So also was a merchant who 'fared thrice over the
wide sea by his own means.'
Stanza 4. Clerk. In Norman and Plantagenet
times a clerk was any one who had taken religious
orders. Few but the clergy were sufficiently well
educated to read and write, and consequently these
were also lawyers, record-keepers, etc. In fact any
man who could prove that he could read was assumed
to be in orders, and could not therefore be sentenced
to death by a layman. The name clerk thus became
associated with priests, and is still preserved in the
formal title of a parson — ' Clerk in Holy Orders.'
Stanza 5. Don't hang them or cut off their fingers.
The purpose of cutting off a man's fingers was to
prevent him from ever being able to use a bow
again.
THE REEDS OF RUNNYMEDE
Stanza 2. You musn't sell, delay, deny,
A freeman's right or liberty.
This is a paraphrase of the fortieth of the sixty-three
chapters of Magna Carta. Its brevity in comparison
with most of the other chapters is impressive. 'To
no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay
right or justice.' It is noteworthy that Magna
Carta concerned itself only with freemen. The
villein and the serf owed their Charter of Liberty,
349
A SCHOOL HISTORY OF ENGLAND
years afterwards, not to any human ordinance but
to the Black Death, which killed so many labourers
that those who survived could demand their own
price for their services.
Stanza 3. Right Divine. The theory that a king
is responsible to God alone for his actions, and that
his authority is by divine ordinance hereditary in a
certain order of succession.
Stanza 4. Except by lawful judgment found
And passed upon him by his peers.
In John's time 'peers' did not mean lords or barons
but equals, and still has this meaning in the phrase
'judgment by his peers' (pares). The tenants-in-
chief of the crown were peers of each other whether
they held one manor or a hundred ; the tenants of a
manor were peers of their fellow-tenants,
WITH DRAKE IN THE TROPICS
Stanza i. Our Admiral leads us on. In Drake's
day every fleet, even if it consisted of only two or
three ships, sailed under the directions of an admiral.
At night lanterns were lighted on the poop of the
admiral's ship and the other ships which did not
carry poop-lanterns had to keep these in sight.
The silent deep ablaze
With fires.
Under certain atmospheric conditions myriads of
phosphorous sparks appear at night wherever the
3 so
A SCHOOL HISTORY OF ENGLAND
sea is disturbed, such as in the wake of a ship or a
porpoise.
Stanza 2. Now the rank moon commands the sky.
There is a very prevalent belief that moonlight has a
bad effect on those who sleep exposed to it. Many
Australian stockmen, for instance, when sleeping out
in the bush without tents, will bind a handkerchief
over their eyes on moonlight nights, for they believe
that the moonlight can cause a disease of the eyes
locally called sandy-blight. They believe, too, that
a man will in his sleep fix his eyes on the moon and
keep on staring at it, moving his head as the moon
moves across the sky. This much seems certain, that
freshly-caught fish exposed to moonlight will become
poisonous.
Stanza 3. How long the time 'twixt bell and hell.
Time is marked at sea by the ringing of bells — one
for each half hour. Thus half an hour after midnight
one bell is rung. Two are rung at one o'clock. And
so on till four o'clock, when eight bells are rung and
the morning watch is set. Half an hour later one
bell is rung again.
Stanza 5. The Line. The equator.
BEFORE EDGEHILL FIGHT
Stanza 2. In the heart of a sleepy Midland shire.
The first battle of the Great Rebellion was fought at
Edgehill in Warwickshire, on the watershed between
the Thames and Severn valleys.
3SI
A SCHOOL HISTORY OF ENGLAND
THE DUTCH IN THE MEDWAY
Stanza 5. For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show.
In 1667 the Dutch fleet under De Rujrter sailed into
the Medway as far as Chatham and burned the de-
fenceless English fleet. This was perhaps the greatest
blow that the British Navy's prestige has ever suffered.
'BROWN BESS'
Brown Bess was the name given in the British
army to the flint-lock musket with which the infantry
were armed in the eighteenth century.
Stanza 3. When ruffles were turned into stiff
leather stocks
And people wore pigtails instead of
perukes.
This change began to take place about the middle of
the eighteenth century. Stiff stocks and pigtails
lasted well into the nineteenth century. In fact, the
ribbon that decorated the pigtail still survives in the
uniform of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. It is now,
however, sewn on to the tunic, since it cannot be
fastened to the non-existent pigtail.
AFTER THE WAR
Stanza i. The snow lies thick on Valley Forge.
Valley Forge is a small village in Chester County,
Pennsylvania. On the 19th of December, 1777, after
352
A SCHOOL HISTORY OF ENGLAND
the battles of Brandywine and Germantown and the
evacuation of Philadelphia by the British, Washing-
ton's army, numbering about ten thousand men, went
into camp there. Commissariat arrangements were
so badly managed that by the ist of February nearly
four thousand men were unfit for duty owing to ill-
nesses caused by lack of proper food and clothing.
Stanza 7. Fall as a term for autumn used to be
in common use in England, though, like many archaic
English words, it now survives only in America. It is,
of course, an abbreviation for 'the fall of the leaf.'
THE BELLS AND THE QUEEN
Stanza 2. Gloriana was a name given by her
courtiers to Queen Elizabeth. It was originated by
the poet Spenser, who allegorically portrayed his
sovereign lady in the Faerie Queen under this name.
THE SECRET OF THE MACHINES
Stanza 2. You shall see and hear your crackling
question hurled.
Across the arch of heaven while you
wait.
When the apparatus of a wireless telegraph is at work
it gives out a crackling noise, and at night sparks can
be seen running up and down the stays of the mast
which supports the 'antenna' or 'air-wire.'
3S3
Other Poems
The following notes are on poems from Mr. Rud-
yard Kipling's prose works that do not appear in
Songs from Books:
CHAPTER HEADING
PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
CONSEQUENCES
Rosicrucian subtleties
In the Orient had rise.
Early in the seventeenth century the 'Brethren of the
Rosie Crosse' professed a knowledge of mystic and
occult science, in expounding which they used the
technical terms of alchemy and other sciences, to
which terms they applied hidden meanings. It was
claimed that one of the Rosicrucian 'brothers' had,
when on pilgrimage, discovered the secret wisdom of
the East.
Seek ye Bombast Paracelsus. Theophrastus Bom-
bast was a famous German physician of the sixteenth
century, who adopted the epithet ' Paracelsus' to indi-
cate that he was superior to Celsus, his remote prede-
cessor. Like Tarrion in the story which accompanies
354
OTHER POEMS
this poem, Paracelsus used unworthy means to gain
his ends. He knew a great deal — he introduced the
use of mercury and laudanum — but pretended to
a knowledge of much more, such as the elixir of
life. I^obert Browning has made him the subject of a
poem.
Flood the Seeker. Flood or Fludd (Robertus de
Fluctibus), 1574-1637, an English Rosicrucian, was
a devout student of Paracelsus. He was a scholar of
St. John's, Oxford, and a Fellow of the College of
Physicians.
The Dominant that runs is the female influence.
Luna at her apogee. The moon when at her greatest
distance from earth.
HEADING TO CHAPTER VI
THE NAULAHKA
IN THE STATE OF KOT-KUMHARSEN, WHERE THE WILD
DACOITS ABOUND
Thakurs. Rajput nobles.
Bunnia. A corn and seed merchant.
Bunjara. A carrier who travels up and down the
country driving long trains of pack-bullocks laden
with goods.
Sahib Bahadur. The word Sahib is a term of re-
spect applied in India to natives of rank— ^. g. Nawab
Sahib, Rajah Sahib— and to Europeans in general.
3SS
OTHER POEMS
Bahadur (brave), another title of respect, is sometimes
added.
Tonga. A two-wheeled car used for travelling in
parts of India beyond the reach of railways. It is
drawn by two ponies harnessed abreast to the pole
with a curricle-bar. Cf. 'As the Bell Clinks' {Depart-
mental Ditties). The clack and click of the tonga-bar
is a characteristic sound of Indian travel.
Machan. A platform, built in the branches of a
tree, from which to shoot driven game.
HEADING TO CHAPTER XVIII
BEAST AND MAN IN INDIA
THE SEVEN NIGHTS OF CREATION
Hassan! Saving Allah, there is none
More strong than Ehlis.
It is written in the Koran that when God created
Adam, He commanded all the angels to worship
him. Eblis refused, and for his disobedience was
turned out of Paradise and became the ruler of all evil
spirits.
The sword-wide bridge. According to Mohamme-
dan belief the soul after death has to cross a bridge,
as narrow as the edge of a sword, that connects
earth and Paradise. Should the soul be overbur-
dened with the weight of sins it will fall into the
abyss below.
3S6
OTHER POEMS
HEADING TO CHAPTER HI
KIM
YEA, VOICE OF EVERY SOUL THAT CLUNG
TO LIFE THAT STROVE FROM RUNG TO RUNG,
WHEN DEVADATTa's RULE WAS YOUNG
THE WARM WIND BRINGS KAMAKURA.
This is apparently a supplementary stanza to the
poem 'Buddha at Kamakura.' It is the Buddhist
belief that the souls of all living creatures are born
again and again, it may be as a beast at one time, as
an insect at another, as a nat (spirit) at another, as a
man at another. Merit is rewarded by rebirth in a
higher form of life (wickedness punished by rebirth in
a lower form) until Nirvana is attained (see note,
'Buddha at Kamakura,' stanza i, p. 224). Devadatta
was the uncle of Gautama Buddha, though younger
than he. He became one of Gautama's disciples, and
later endeavoured to displace the Teacher as head of the
order which he had founded. Failing in his purpose,
Devadatta, after making several attempts to murder
Gautama, founded a rival order. According to a com-
mentary on the Jataka (see note, ' Buddha at Kama-
kura,' stanza 7, p. 226), the earth swallowed up Deva-
datta when on his way to ask pardon of the Buddha,
though a later authority says that although he avowed
his intention of asking Gautama's pardon, he had con-
cealed poison in his nail with which to murder him.
3fl
OTHER POEMS
THE RUNNERS
TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES
In the story 'A Sahib's War/ which accompanies
this poem, the Sikh soldier who accompanied his
Enghsh officer to the South African War says, 'The
Sahib knows how we of Hind hear all that passes over
the earth? There was not a gun cocked in Yunas-
bagh' (Johannesburg) 'that the echo did not come
into Hind in a month.'
Stanza 2. The well-wheels. In the Punjab crops
are irrigated with water drawn from wells by means
of wheels worked by bullocks.
Stanza 4. Under the shadow of the border-peels.
A peel is a watch-tower. The Zuka Khel Afridis have
sixty such towers, 'two-storied, built of stone, and
entered by a ladder from the upper story' (see 'The
Lost Legion* in Many Inventions). According to the
Sikh officer in 'A Sahib's War,' it was rumours that
'the Sahibs of Yunasbagh lay in bondage to the Boer-
log' which led to the revolt of the Afridis and the
subsequent war in the Tirah.
THE RUNES ON WELAND'S SWORD
PUCK OF POOR'S HILL
Runes are characters in the earliest alphabet used
by the Gothic tribes of northern Europe. Modern
scholars have gradually pieced the alphabet together
358
OTHER POEMS
from engravings on Norse monuments, bracelets, oar-
blades, etc. The most valuable contribution made
to the knowledge of the subject was obtained from a
knife found in the Thames. Though some Runic
characters were used in the English alphabet as late
as the fifteenth century, most of them were obsolete
by the tenth. When our forefathers of that day saw
Runic characters engraved on anything they found
they naturally thought, as they could not read them,
that the runes were 'magic'
This poem is in the form in which Old English
poetry was commonly written. Rhymes were very
seldom used, but rhythm was attained by emphasiz-
ing syllables. Usually there were four stressed sylla-
bles in each long line or two in each half-line or short
line. Alliteration also was used — the same letter or
sound being repeated several times. Note the repe-
tition of M in the lines.
As Mith Makes Me
To betray My Man
In My first fight;
and of G in the lines,
It is not Given
For Goods or Gear.
Weland was the Vulcan of our Saxon forefathers.
Near the White Horse in Berkshire there is a cromlech
near which Weland or Wayland Smith is said to have
lived. He worked for those who paid him, but never
359
OTHER POEMS
allowed himself to be seen. If any one wanted a tool
mended he laid it, together with a coin, on the crom-
lech and went away. When he came back the tool
was mended but the coin was gone. This legend
suggests that what anthropologists call the 'Silent
Trade' was once practised in England. Travellers in
Africa from the days of Herodotus down to modern
times have occasionally found traces of a commerce
between two people who never saw each other. One
man having something to sell would place it in a
conspicuous position and go away. When he came
back he found gold-dust or something of value by the
side of it. If he was content with the bargain he took
the gold-dust and left the article which he had offered
for sale. In England in Neolithic times there must
have been trade of some sort between the flint-workers
of Cissbury (see note on Flint-workers, 'Song of the
Men's Side,' p. 342) and neighbouring tribes, and
later between the iron-workers of the Weald and their
neighbours. Is it not probable that at the very be-
ginning of this trade the tribes were more or less con-
stantly at war with each other, and that individuals
who wanted to trade adopted the 'silent' method
because they feared treachery? In 'The Knife and
the Naked Chalk' {Rewards and Fairies) the flint-
worker arranges with iron-workers that his people
should bring meat, milk, and wool, and lay them in
the short grass near the trees, if the iron-workers
would leave knives for the flint-workers to take away.
360
OTHER POEMS
Such a trade, if it existed, may well have given rise
to the legend of the divine smith who would mend
a tool for payment but would never let himself be
seen.
PHILADELPHIA
REWARDS AND FAIRIES
Stanza i. Philadelphia in the last decade of
the eighteenth century was the most important
city in America and the seat of the Federal Govern-
ment.
Talleyrand, who had been acting as a self-appointed
ambassador to Great Britain, was expelled from Brit-
ish soil after the execution of Louis xvi. He went
to the United States, where he spent thirty months
before he found it safe to return to France.
Count Zinnendorf, a bishop of the Moravian Church,
paid a missionary visit to America in 1741-1742. His
principal work was the founding of the borough of
Bethlehem, Pa., fifty-five miles from Philadelphia.
The Moravians as a community were famous at this
time for the earnestness of their work among the Red
Indians and the excellence of the inns they kept. In
proportion to their small numbers the Moravians at
the present day support a larger number of mission-
airies than does any other community.
Stanza 2. The character of Toby Hirte, in the
story ' Brother Square-Toes,' is a character based on
361
OTHER POEMS
that of Dr. Benjamin Rush, who did splendid work in
Philadelphia during the terrible fever epidemic of
1793, in spite of the fact that his colleagues, who did
not approve of his methods of treating the disease,
relentlessly persecuted him.
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF POEMS
ANNOTATED
After the War, . . . .352
American, An, .... 1^7
Anchor Song, . . 140
Angutivaun Taina, . . 341
Army Headquarters, . . 3
As the Bell clinks, . . 17
Astrologer's Song, An, . 312
'At the hole where he went
in,' . . . 327
'Back to the Army again,' 172
Ballad of Boh da Thone,
The, .... 65
Ballad of' East and West,
The, .... 49
Ballad of Fisher's Boarding-
house, The, ... 16
Ballad of Minepit Shaw,
The, .... 338
Ballad of the 'Bolivar,'
The, 76
Ballad of the 'Clampher-
down,' The, ... 75
Ballad of the King's Jest,
The, 57
Ballad of the King's Mercy,
The, S3
'Beat off in our last fight
were we?' .... 292
Bee Boy's Song, The, . 312
Bees and the Flies, The, . 295
Before a Midnight breaks in
Storm, . . 196
Before Edgehill Fight,
Bell Buoy, The, . .
Bells and the Queen, The,
Belts,
Beyond the path of the out-
most Sun, .
'Birds of Prey' March,
Boots,
Bridge-guard in the Kar-
roo
British Roman Song, A,
Broken Men, The,
Brookland Road, .
'Brown Bess,' .
Buddha at Kamakura,
Burial, The,
Butterflies, ....
Captive, The, .
Cells,
Chant Pagan, .
Charm, A, . . . .
Chil's Song,
'China-going P. and O's,'
Cholera Camp, .
Cleared,
Coastwise Lights, The,
Code of Morals, A, .
Cold Iron, ....
Columns,
Conundrum of the Work-
shops, The,
Cruisers,
351
198
3S3
40
36
179
262
239
296
206
278
3S2
222
213
32s
288
32
251
280
288
319
184
84
93
9
282
2S7
81
199
3^3
LIST OF POEMS ANNOTATED
Danny Deever, .... 27
■ Dark Children of the Mere
and Marsh,' . . . 306
Darzee's Chaunt, . . 344
Deep-Sea Cables, The, . 96
Derelict, The, . . . . 134
Destroyers, The, . . . 200
Dirge of Dead Sisters, . 244
Divided Destinies, ... 12
Dove of Dacca, The, . . 64
Dutch in Medway, The . 352
Dykes, The, .... 204
'Eathen, The, .
Eddi's Service, .
Egg-Shell, The,
England's Answer, .
English Flag, -The,
'Et Dona Ferentes'
Evarra and his Gods,
Explorer, The, .
Fairies' Siege, The,
Feet of the Young Men, The,
Files, The, .
First Chantey, The,
Flowers, The
'Follow me 'Ome; .
Ford o' Kabul River,
Frankie's Trade,
From the Masjid-al-aqsa of
Sayyid Ahmed (Waha-
bi). See The Captive, .
' Fuzzy-Wuzzy, '
191
284
328
82
232
81
209
285
207
241
99
1S3
188
44
340
Galley Slave, The,
Gallio's Song, .
General Joubert,
Gentlemen-Rankers,
GifFen's Debt,
Gift of the Sea, The,
Gow's Watch, .
288
29
24
293
21S
44
23
80
322
Grave of the Hundred Head,
The, II
Gunga, Din, .... 34
Hadramauti, .... 290
Half-Ballad of Waterval, . 265
Heriot's Ford, .... 339
Hymn before Action, . . 152
Imperial Rescript, An, . 86
In Spring Time, ... 24
In the Neolithic Age, . . 158
In the State of Kot-Kum-
harsen, 355
Islanders, The, .... 245
Jacket, The, .... 189
Jubal and Tubal-Cain, . 300
Kaspar's Song in Varda {see
Butterflies), . . . 325
King, The, 122
King Henry VII and the
Shipwrights, . . . 336
King's Task, The, . . .328
Kitchener's School, . . 233
Lament of the Border Cattle
Thief, The, ... 68
'Lark will make her hymn to
God, The,' .... 293
Last Chantey, The, . loi
Last Department, The, 9
Last Rhyme ofTrueThomas,
The, iss
Last Suttee, The, ... 52
Legend of the Foreign OflSce,
A, ..... . 3
Legends of Evil, The, . 82
Lesson, The, .... 240
Lichtenberg, .... 263
Liner She's a Lady, The, . 138
Long Trail, The, ... 88
Loot, 37
364
LIST OF POEMS ANNOTATED
Lost Legion, The, .
Lukannon, .
M' Andrew's Hymn,
Mandalay, ...
Man who could write. The
Married Man, The,
'Mary Gloster,' The,
Masque of Plenty, The,
'Men that fought at Min
den. The,* ...
Merchantmen, The,
Merrow Down, .
M. I., .
Miracles, The, .
Mother Lodge, The,
Mowgli's Song against
People, .
MulhoUand's Contract,
Municipal, .
'My new-cut Ashlar,' .
Native born. The, .
New Knighthood, The,
Norman and Saxon,
Nursing Sister, The, .
O Hassan! Saving Allah,
there is none, .
Old Issue, The, .
Old Men, The, . . .
Old Mother Laidinwool,
One Viceroy resigns, .
Only Son, The,
Oonts,
Our Fathers of old.
Our Lady of the Snows,
Outsong in the Jungle,
Palace, The,
Parade Song of the Camp
Animals, ....
Partingof the Columns, The,
PAGE
146
108
42
8
262
167
12
182
103
313
2S3
119
i8s
326
139
8
284
119
286
348
32s
356
237
209
316
19
32s
35
304
231
287
21S
308
259
PAOE
Peace of Dives, The, . . 248
Pharaoh and the Sergeant, 230
Philadelphia (^Rewards and
Fairies), .... 361
Pict Song, A, .... 296
Piet, ... 266
Pirates in England, The, 347
'Pit where the buffalo
cooled his hide,* . . 281
'Poor Honest Men,' . . 298
Poseidon's Law, . . 332
Prayer, The, . . . .345
Prophets at Home, . . 300
Public Waste, .... 4
Puck's Song, .... 274
Queen*s Men, The, . . 322
Recessional, . . 272
Reeds of Runnymede, The, 349
Reformers, The, . . . 244
Rhyme of the Three Cap-
tains, The, . 69
Rhyme of theThreeSealers,
The, . . . . 124
Rimini, . . ... 297
Rimmon, . . . .236
Ripple Song, A, . 324
Road-Song of the Bandar-
Log, . . . . 296
Roman Centurion, The, . 346
Rosicrucian Subtleties, . 354
Route Marchin', ... 45
Runes on Weland's Sword,
The (Puck of Pook's
HUT). ... 358
Runners, The {Traffics and
Discoveries), . . 358
Run of the Downs, 277
Rupaiyat of Omar Kal'vin, 1 1
Sacrifice of Er-Heb, The, 79
St. Helena Lullaby, A, 287
Sappers, 180
365
LIST OF POEMS ANNOTATED
Saxon Foundations of Eng-
land, The, .
School Song, A,
Screw-Guns,
Sea and the Hills, The,
Sea-Wife, The, .
Second Voyage, The, .
Secret of the Machines, The,
Sergeant's Weddin', The,
Sestina of the Tramp Royal
Settlers, The,
Shillin' a Day, .
Shiv and the Grasshopper.
Shut-eye Sentry, The,
Sir Richard's Song,
Smuggler's Song, A, .
'Snarleyow,'
'Soldier and Sailor too,'
Song of Diego Valdez, The,
Song of Kabir, A, .
Song of the Banjo, The,
Song of the Cities, The,
Song of the Dead, The,
Song of the English, A,
Song of the Fifth River,
Song of the Men's Side, The,
Song of the Red War Boat,
Song of the Sons, The,
Song of the Wise Children,
Song of the Women, The,
Song to Mithras, A, .
Stellenbosh,
'Stone's throw out on either
hand, A,' . . . .
Story of Ung, The,
Sussex,
Tale of Two Cities, A,
That Day,
'There was never a queen
like Balkis,' . . .
This is the mouth-filling
song,
Thorkild's Song,
347
302
31
196
152
203
353
189
171
250
47
284
194
279
335
38
178
205
282
135
97
94
93
307
341
323
97
221
14
285
264
281
162
216
22
182
321
318
341
Three-Decker, The, . . 164
Three-part Song, A, . . 277
Tomlinson, 87
Tommy, 28
To T. A. (Thomas Atkins), 26
To the City of Bombay, 93
To the True Romance, . 152
To the Unknown Goddess, 10
Tree Song, A, . . . . 279
Troopin,' 43
^ " ■ " "■ 208
334
322
260
309
Truce of the Bear, The,
Truthful Song, A, . . .
Two Cousins,The {see 'The
Queen's Men'), . .
Two Kopjes
Two-sided Man, The, .
Ubique, 270
Voortrekker, The, . . . 301
'We be Gods of the East,' 292
Wet Litany, The, . . . 337
What happened, ... 5
What the People said, . 18
When 'Omer smote his
bloomin' Lyre, 171
'When the cabin port-holes
are dark and green,' . 318
White Horses, .... 202
White Man's Burden, The, 229-
Widow at Windsor, The, . 40
Widow's Party, The, . . 43
'Wilful Missing,' . . 270
William the Conqueror's
Work, : . . . . 348
With Drake in the Tropics, 350
With Scindia to Delhi, . 59
Yea, voice of every soul that
clung, . . • ■ 3S7
' Yet at the last, ere our spear-
men had found him,' 293
Young British Soldier, The, 41
Young Queen, The, . . 235
366
GENERAL INDEX
Note. — Where reference to more than one page is made, the number of
the page on which the most complete note appears is given first.
Aback and full .... 141
Abazai ... 50, 56, 68
Abdhur Rahman, Amir of Af-
ghanistan, biographical
note 53
opinion of Lady DufFerin 14
suspected of intrigue with
Russia ....
humorous cruelty of
equanimity of
Able Bastards .
55
56
58
164
53
39
294
209
350
SO
A. B., Qualifications of an 292, 76
Abu
Action front ....
Actions and Reactions 216,
Adam-zad
Admiral leads us on
Afghans, respect for courage
at battle of Paniput 59, 60, 61
Afract 333
Afreedeeman {see Afridi)
African SteamshipCompany 169
Afridi 32
character of the ... 49
revolt of the . . .358
Agulhas Roll . 107, 121
Ahmed, king of Kabul . 59
Ahmed, Sayyid (Wahabi). 289
Aitchison, Sir Charles . . 20
Alexander (herb) . . 304
Alexander the Great . . 308
Allah, He called upon . . 293
Allan Line 169
AUobrogenses .... 161
Alpha Centauri . . . 258
Ambree, Mary .... 172
American Bureau of Ethnol-
ogy, Sixth Annual Re-
port of . . . 341
American expressions . . 209
American law and English
authors 69
Ananda 225
Anchor Line . . . .320
Ancient Akkad .... 249
Ancient Landmarks (Masonic
term) 187
Andred's Wood . . .328
Angekok 310
Anglo-Saxons . . . 328, 330
Anthropological Institute,
Journal of the . . . 325
Apocrypha, References to the —
Ecclesiasticus xliv . 244, 303
I Maccabees vi . . 309
Apollo 295
Arabi (Ahmad) .... 190
Arabs 291, 292
Arelate 347
Aristaeus 295
Arquebus . . 123
Artillery, charged French
cavalry . . . . 190
co-operation with infantry 272
Royal Horse .... 38
4th Battery .... 272
367
GENERAL INDEX
Ashdod 249
Ashlar 216
Astrology 312
and Medicine . . . 304
At hack 322
Athenaeum, Controversy in
pages of . . . 69, 70
Atlantic Transport Line . 320
Atkins, Thomas ... 26
Atlantis, Lost . . . . 119
Aurelian Road . . . .347
Australia, 99, 94, 98, 146, 147,
151, 153, 209, 213, 23s, 259
Australian blacks . 100, 3 16, 161
Australian Commonwealth 23 s
Avatar 167
Axle arms ... . 190
Azores, Off the .... 298
Baboons — at the bottom . 260
Babu s
Backing of wind against the
sun 130
Back pay 193
Backstay 136
Baganda 343
Bagheera .... 287, 288
Bahadur 355
Bairagi 283
Balestier, Wolcott . 4, 15, 16
dedication to . . . . 26'
Balkis 321
Ball, v., contribution to
Journal of Anthropologi-
cal Institute . . . . 325
Ballast 142, 170
Baloo . . . 287, 288, 296
Bandar-log .... 296, 287
Bank, 'Olborn Bank . . 271
Banks, The 124
Bar, The .... 18, 68
Barberton 251
Barracoon loi
Barracoot loi
PAGB
Barrens, The .... 95
Barrier Reef . . . . 113
Barrowandthecamp, The 217,276
Barrows .... 343, 217
Bars and rings .... 193
Basil (herb) .... 292
Bay, The 147
Bayham's mouldering walls 274
Bayonet, Uses of the . . 255
Beagle (torpedo-boat de-
stroyer) 201
Beam-sea 88
Beast, .The 342
Beast and Man in India
. . . 24, 82, 306, i^G
Beaver Line . . . .320
Bechuanas 342
Beechmast 331
Beetle (Kipling's nickname
at school) .... 302
Beeves were salted tbrice. 332
Begum 21
Belfast 252
Bell and bell, 'Twixt . . 351
Bell-bird 154
Belloc, Hilaire . . . .315
Belphcebe 322
Beltane fires . . . .331
Benares 228
Bend 128
Bergen 83
Bering Sea, Difficulties of
navigation of . . . 125
Bering, Vitus .... 132
Bermuda 179
Bernardmyo . ... 179
Berne 161
Besant, Walter 70, 71, 73, 74
Bhagwa Jhanda .... 63
Bhao {see Sewdasheo Chim-
najee Bhao)
Bhils . ...... 6
Bhisti, definition ... 34
proverbial courage of . 35
368
GENERAL INDEX
Bhowani .
61
Bibby Line 321
Bible, References to the —
Genesis i .118, 152, 216
Genesis iv -500
Genesis x .
• 249
Genesis xxxix
. i6s
Exodus iii
233
Exodus xiii
231
Exodus xvi
230
Deuteronomy vi
273
Joshua X .
339
Judges V .
1 Samuel v .
312
249
I Samuel ix, and
X
212
I Kings V
103
I Kings X .
103
I Kings xviii .
236
II Kings V .
236
II Chronicles xxx
V .
250
. ob xii. .
246
_ ob xxxviii
117
ob xxxix .
'salm li .
273
273
Psalm xc .
273
Proverbs xxx .
89
Ecclesiastes vi
114
Ecclesi'astes vii
171
Ecclesiastes viii
262
Song of Solomon
vii
32s
Isaiah x .
249
Isaiah xi .
249
Isaiah xvi
250
Isaiah xx .
240
. eremiah xlvi
250
eremiah xlyiii
izekiel xxvii .
250
333
Amos vi .
249
Jonah iv .
Nahum iii.
300
273
Matthew xii .
113
Matthew xxi .
210
Luke vi
140
Luke xvi
248
233
10
294
102
273
103
lOI
217
112
Bible, References to th'
Acts ii
Acts xvii .
Acts xviii .
Acts xxvii
Romans ii.
Revelation iv
Revelation xxi
See also Apocrypha and
Prayer-Book
Bignor Hill (Sussex) .
Bilge
Bilge-cocks 167
Bilgewater 73
Billy 146
Biltong 268
Birkenhead (troopship) . 179
Birred 158
Bitt (nautical term) 128, 143, 199
Black, William . . 70, 74
Blastoderms .... 82
Blaze (trees) . . . . 212
Blazon 156
Blockhouses 269
Bloemfontein, Typhoid at 244
Bloeming-typhoidtein . . 259
Blooded 136
Blue Devil, A little . .328
Blue Fuse 271
Blue Peter 90
BIufF .... 127, 128
Boas, Dr. Franz (author of
paper on The Central
Eskimo) . . . 341
Boat, Evolution of the. .. 100
Bodhisat 225
Boer Bread 267
Boers, at Majuba . . . 129
early voortrekkers . . 152
sham retreat tactics . 261
deprive prisoners of
clothing 264
wear British uniforms 267
gifts and loans to . . 269
369
GENERAL INDEX
Bohs .... 66, 67, 7
Bomba 242
Bombardier 39
Bombast Paracelsus . . 354
Bombay . . . 97> 93
Bonair SOj 68
Bonaparte, Napoleon . . 287
Bonze 311
Bookland 329
Boom 72, 106
Boomer 318
Boondi 53
Border-peels . . . . 358
Bosenham 331
103,
331
142
163
217
334
204
Bosham (Sussex)
Bower (anchor)
Bowhead
Bow HiU(Sussex)
Brace (nautical term)
Brace and trim
Bramley 315
Brandwater Basin . . . 252
Brassbound Man . . . 332
Brattled 158
Bray 203
Break her;back in the trough 324
Breaming-fagots
Brenzett (Kent) . . .
Brigandyne, Robert
Brisbane
British India Line.
Broadstonebrook
Brocken-spectres
Brooke, Sir James
Broomielaw .
'Brown Bess ' .
Browning, Robert, Soul's
Tragedy
Paracelsus
Brut (Early English chron-
icle) .
Brut the Trojan
Buck, Sir Edward
Buck on the move
206
■ 277
• 336
• 98
169, 320
• 31S
147.
243
207
"3
3S2
241
354
279
280
19
260
PAGE
Buddha, Buddhism, 222-228, 357
Buddh-Gaya . . 225, 228
Bull, Siva s Sacred ... 7
Bulkheads 24
BuUer, Sir Redvers . . 244
Bunjara ...... 335
Bunkers emptied in open sea 76
Bunnia 355
Bunt 108
Bunting up sail. . . . 108
Burgash (Sayyid) . . . 149
Burk 8s
Burke, Thomas ... 85
Burmese 66, 67, 17, 30, 43, 7
Bury Hill (Sussex) . . 217
Butt (nautical term) . . 128
Button-stick .... 32
Buttons (military) ... 28
Caburn, Mount (Sussex) . 217
Calcutta .... 97, 22
Calkins 49
Callao 206
Calno 249
Calthrops . . . 17, 18
Calvings (of icebergs) . . 198
Camel, knowledge of Name
of God SI
Camp and cattle guards . 267
Camperdown (in collision
with H.M.S. Victoria) . 180
Canada, 231, 99, 9s, 98, 120, isi
Canadian preference to
Great Britain . . .231
Candlemas 280
Canteen . . . . 189, 35
Cape Colony 121, iso, IS3. 239
See also South Africa
Cape Town . . 98, 121, IS3
Captain (army), Number of
men assigned to a . 184
Captains Courageous . ICX3, 168
origin of title . . . 172
Caraval 292
370
GENERAL INDEX
Carchemish 249
Careen 205, 135
Carry (arms) . . . 175
Case 190, 39
Caste 187
Catafract 333
Cat an' banjo .... 29
Cathead 143
Cattle, Singing to . . . 139
Cautions 230
Cavalry charged by artillery 190
Cave-men 122
Cavendish, Lord Frederick 84
C.B. ...... 33
Celestial wives for warriors 62
Chanctonbury Ring (Sus-
sex) . . 217, 276, 278
Chand Bardai (Hindoo poet) 62
Chanties, 99, icxd, 104, 136, 340
Charles I 237
Charnock, Job . 97, 22
Chatham
Chichester Harbour
Chil
Child of the child I bore.
'Children of the Night,' .
Chitor
siege of 65
Chivers, Dr. Thomas HoUey 243
Chock (nautical term) .
Choosers of the Slain .
Chronic Ikonas ....
Church's one Foundation,
The
Churel 281
CLE., Nothing more than 4
Cissbury Ring (Sussex) 217,276,
341. 360
C.LV.(City Imperial Volun
teers)
Clan-na-Gael
Clapham Sect
Claudius Caesar
Cleaning rod
S
331
288
236
342
4
128
201
253
152
261
86
162
294
38
Cleat 129
Clerk 349
Clink 33, 40
Clippers . . . . 168, 94
Clobber 37
Clubbed his wretched com-
3
183
77
77
pany ....
Clubbed their field parades
Coal adrift adeck .
Coal and fo'c'stle short .
Coast-Hne of Sussex, Altera-
tions in the . 277
Cobra (torpedo-boat de-
stroyer) 201
Cohort .... 346
Coil 323
Colenbrander, J. . . 214
Colesberg Kop .... 272
'College,' The .... j
CoUinga (Calcutta) . . 17
Colour-casin's . 176
Colour sergeant. Position of 193, 27
duties of ... . 193
Colvin, Sir Auckland 8, 11, 19
Comb, comber . . 196, 135
Comfits and pictures . 246
Commissionaires, Corps of 48
Common 329
Compass (mariner's). Eccen-
tricities of . . . 78, 79
Con 134
Conchimarian horns . . 243
Conductor-Sargent . . . 186
Coney-catch . . . .323
Congressmen, Indian . . 21
Conning-tower .... 76
Conscription and trade . 248
Constantia 153
Convoy,Ahomeward-bound 300
Cook (tourist agency) . 164
Coptics . . ... 230
Corbet, Richard . . . 172
Cork court-house, B urning of 82
Corporal's Guard ... 32
371
GENERAL INDEX
Corps which is first among
the women, etc. . .38
Cosmopolouse . . . . 179
County-folk .... 165
Cover 179
Cow guns ... . 256
Cowslip 305
Cozen advantage . . . 323
Crackers . .... 191
Crackling question . . . 353
Crackling tops .... 202
Crimped ...... 72
Crocodile (troopship) . . 43
Cross, Lord 19
Crossets 107
Cross-surges ... . 200
Crosthwaite, Sir Charles . 19
Cruisers, Functions of . 199, 75
Crystal-gazing . . . . 196
C.S.I., Lusted for a . . 4
Culpeper, Nicholas . . 304
Culverin 123
Cunard Line .... 169
Cymen's Ore . . .331
Dacoits 7
among Burmese royal
family 66
cruelty of 67
Dago 89
Damajee .... 61, 62
Dammer 72, 68
Dana's Sailing Manual . 140
Tzoo Years before the Mast 129
Dances, Religious . . . 123
Daoud Shah (Afghan gen-
eral) ss
Darjeeling 23
Dartnell, General . . . 252
Darzee 344
Davit 144
Dawson . .... 260
Day's Work, The . 6, 108, 115
DeAar 268
Dead March in Saul . .188
De la Rey, General . 251, 263
Delaware, Capes of the . 298
Delhi rebels 40
Delight of Wild Asses, The 10
Delos 138
Destroyers, Torpedo-boat . 201
Detail Supply .... 257
Details . . . . . . 239
Deutsche-Ost- Africa Line 320
Devadatta 357
Devil's Dyke (Sussex) . . 217
De Wet, General 253, 256, 271
Dewponds 217
Diamond Hill . . 2? I
Diamond Jubilee, Queen Vic-
toria's . . . .231, 272
Dilawar Si> 5^
Dingo 319
Dipsy-lead 74
Dish, With begging . 11
Disko 83
Ditch, The 178
Ditchling Beacon (Sussex) 217, 277
Divine Right .... 350
Djinn 281
Dogger, The .... 83
Dogras 49
Dog-rib Indians . . . 100
Domesday Book 275, 278, 331
Dominant that runs . . 355
Donkey, The, introduced the
devil into the ark . 82
Dooli 3S
Doolies 44
Dop 268
Dordogne 163
Double deck (cards) . . 128
Drafting (of recruits) . . 191
Drake, Francis . . 95, 350
political importance of the
discovery of the Horn 96
at Chili 105
childhood and training of 340
372
GENERAL INDEX
Dreadnought (sailing ship) i68
Dress (military command) 174
Drives (in S. A. war) . 269
Drogue 166
Dromond 332
Drop (nautical term) . . 144
D.S.O's 265
Ducies .... .96
DufFerin, Lady ... 19
work for Indian women 14, 15
dislike of punkahs . . 22
DuflFerin, Lord (Viceroy of
India) ... 15, 19, 22
Dule 293
Duncton (Sussex) . . . 278
Dundee (S. A.) . . . 252
Dung-fed camp smoke . 135
Dunting 278
Durani 54
Durbar 58
Dutchman, The Flying 107, 166
Dwerg .159
Dykes, construction of. . 205
Eagles, The (Roman) . 298
'Eagle' troop (R.H.A.) . 190
Eblis 356, 291
Eddi 284
Egg-shell with a little Blue
Devil inside . . . 328
Eight-ox plough . . 330
Eildon Tree Stone . . . 156
Elecampane .... 304
Elephants in Greek Armies 308
Elliot, H. W. (author of An
Arctic Province) . . 133
Empusa .... .87
Engineers, Corps of Royal 180
Etawah 47
Euchred 79
Euphrates (troopship) . . 43
Eurociydon 347
Europe-shop . . . . 186
Eusufzai {see Yusufzai)
Eyass 322, 158
Eyebright ... .304
Eyes Front! 176
Faenza 241
Fairfield Church (Kent) . 279
Fairies, Origin of popular
beHef in 296
fear of iron . . .282, 339
Falernian 334
Fall (autumn) . . . .353
Fall (rope) . . . 143, 90
Fanners (bees) . . . .313
'Farewell Rewards and
Fairies' (old song) 172, 339
Fatigue 183, 41
Fenians 86
Fern (New Zealand) . . 154
Fians, Fairies, and Picts . 297
Fief and fee .... 279
Field officer 194
S
318
27
104,
Fifty and Five, Law of the .
Fifty North and Forty West
Files on parade
Finns (credited with magical
powers) .
Fireworks (Indian)
Firle Beacon (Sussex)
Fish (anchor)
Five-bob colonials .
Five Free Nations .
Flaw ....
Flax (New Zealand)
Flaying ....
Fleereth . . .
Fleet in Being, A, origin of
title . .
Flenching
Flies (of tents) .
Flint workers
Flood the Seeker
Fly River . .
Fog-buoy's squattering flight 337
Folkland 329
129
18
277
144
2S7
23 s
197
154
329
200
172
103
i8s
342
3SS
147
ill
GENERAL INDEX
•Folk of the Hiir ... 338
Foothills 210
Footings 216
Footsack 256
'Foreigners' 317
Foreign lot (foreigners serv-
ing with Boer forces)
Foreloopers .
Foresheet
Foresheet, Free .
Foresheet home .
Fourth Battery, The (R.F.
A.) . . . .
Fox, Blue
Fox, Kit . . .
Frap (nautical term)
Fraser, Prof. J. G.
Fratton .
Free Companies
Freemasonry . 185-
French, General
Frigate
From Sea to Sea
Full and by
Full-draught breeze
Full kit . . .
Fulmar .
Fundy Race
Funerals, Military
Furrow (league long) . . 120
Gadire (Palestine). . . 249
Gadire (Hispania) . 334
Galen 306
Galle 260
Galley 106
Gallio, deputy of Achaia . 293
Garth (North country word) 152
Gascony archers, You can
horsewhip .... 348
Gaskets 107, 144
Gate (North country word) 152
Gaur, City of . _ . . . 64
Gautama {see Buddha)
Gay Street 113
Gaze (tourist agency) . . 164
Gear (North country word) 152
Gear (rigging) .... 134
Gentle yellow pirate . . 207
Gentlemen-Adventurers , 102
Gerb 323
German Emperor, The . 86
Ghazi 47
Ghilzai 55
caravan trade of . . 57
Gholam Hyder (Afghan gen-
eral) 58
Ghylls 221
Gilderoy's kite .... 240
Girn_ 115
Glacis 191
Gladstone, W. E. . 19, 97
Gloriana 353
Gnome 159
Goatskin water-bag . 34
God, Names of . . . . 51
Golden Gate, The . . . 88
Golden Hind ... 96, 105
Gomashta 67
Goodwin Sands . . . 278
Goose-step 173
Goose-winged .... 127
Gooverooska . . . .312
Gordon, General . . 182, 231
Gordon Memorial College 235
Goshen 248
Gothavn 'speckshioner . 103
Govan 112
Graham, Sir G. ... 30
Grand Rounds . ... 195
Grand Trunk Road . . 45, 7
Grant Road .... 112
Green seas 78
Grey-coat guard •••57
Gridiron 72
Groundswell .... 203
Guddee 283
374
GENERAL INDEX
Guides, Queen's Own Corps
of, formation and con-
stitution .... 49
a 'bhisti' rose to com-
missioned rank in. . 35
outlaws have served in 51
Gunfleet Sands .... 91
Gurkhas 49
Guy (of davit) .... 144
Habergeon 249
Hadramaut 290
Hadria 332
Hai, Tyr, aie! . . . . 344
Hakluyt's Pollicy of keeping
the Sea 333
Voyages 302
Halberdiers . . . . 184
Halifax 98
Hall of Our Thousand Years 235
Hamble-le-rice (Hants) . 336
Hamtun 331
Hamuli on the Hoke . 336
Hand grenades . . . .183
Handsome (handsomely) . 143
Hanuman 82
Hardy, Thomas . . 70, 74
Harness-cutting . . . 179
Harrow Road . . . .314
Harumfrodite .... 178
Hatch, Hatches 88, 114, 126
Haversack 37
Hazat Nuh (Noah) . . 182
Headlands 330
Headsails 130
Hearne, Lafcadio . 223
Heathen kingdom Wilfrid
found 219
Heliograph 9
Helmund 57
Henri Grace a Dieu, The . 337
Henry the Seventh's navy . 337
Her that fell at Simon's
Town 244
PAGE
Heratis 56
Here's howl 151
Hermes 138
Hesperides 204
Hippocrates 306
Hirples 339
Hirte, Toby .... 361
Hobart 99
Hog 77
Hogs, feeding at low tide . 129
Hokee-mut .... 194
Hollow square .... 27
Holluschickie . 126, 129, 311
Holy Ghost, Sin against the 113
Hoogli 84
Hookah ... -.57
Hooker (nautical term) . 335
Hope, Sir Theodore Cra-
croft 19, 20
Hop-picking .... 316-318
Horace's Odes . . . 138, 332
Hotchkiss gun .... 75
Htee 226
Hubbard, A. J. and G.
(authors of Neolithic
Dewponds and Cattle-
ways) 218
Hubshee 233
Hull down 166
Hunter, General Sir A. . 253
Hunter, Sir William Wilson 20
Hurree Chunder Mookerjee 5
Hy-Brasil 303
Ibsen, Henrik .... 87
Ice-blink 103
I.D.B ISO
Ikona 254
Impi 30
In Black and White . . 64
Indian Foreign Oifice . 3
Inman Line. . . . 169, 164
Institutio {Christianae Relig-
ionis) no
375
GENERAL INDEX
In yarak 323
Iron, protection against
witches, fairies, etc. 282, 339
Iron-smelting in Sussex . 275
Irrawaddy River ... 30
Islands of the Blest . . 164
Islands of the Sea . . . 249,
Isle of Ghosts .... 108
Italy, What's caught in . 323
Ithuriel 8
Jacala ..... 324, 327
Jacket (of captain in Royal
Horse Artillery) . . 190
agai. Tongue of . . . 50
ane Harrigan's. . . . 112
atakas 226
68, 7
17
333
308
Jaun Bazar (Calcutta)
Javan
Jews and war .
eypore
ezail
iggers . . .
ingal
odhpur .
ohar. Rite of .
ohnny Bowlegs
Jolly (marine) .
'onah
ones, Paul
. . 68
. . IIS
■ ■ 17
• • 4
. . 64
. . 136
. . 178
• 300
69, 70
OSS 128
Joss-sticks .... 132, 225
oubert, Petrus Jacobus 215, 237
ubal 300
u-ju 309
uma, a bhisti of the Guides 35
Jumna (troopship) . . 43
Jumrood, Fort ... 57
Jungle Book 3 1, 287, 296, 307, 344
Jungle growth in deserted
villages 326
Junior Deacon (masonic
term) 186
Just-so Stories
Jut {see Jats)
1 595
PAGE
318
Kaa 287
Kabir 282, 345
Kabulis 49
Kaf to Kaf 234
Kaffir 55, 293
Kamakura 223
Karela 326
Karoo desert .... 121
Keep 156
Kelpies iij
Kelson 106
Kensington draper, A . . 260
Kentledge 106
Kew 161
Khatmandhu .... 161
Khost, Hills of . . .61
Khuttuks ... 57, 49, 68
Kikar (tree) 283
Kim 6, II, 18, 93, 226, 281, 357
Kimberley 150
Kingsley, Mary . . . 244
Kipling, John Lockwood 93, 82
on the koil .... 24
on Indian buffaloes 306, 307
Kipling, Rudyard, born in
Bombay. • ■ • 93
collaboration with Wol-
cott Bales tier ... 26
an authority on Burmese
War 17
on engineering subjects . 108
accuracy questioned . 263
controversy with Walte-
Besant, Thomas Hardy,
and William Black . 70
description of Gholam
Hyde . . . 58
of burning of the Sarah
Sands ill
indebtedness to work of
others 171
376
GENERAL INDEX
pen-pictures of Sussex 216
use of the Swastika . 222
tribute to headmaster of
his old school . . . 302
foundations of his varied
'knowledge . . . 302
use of quotations from the
Bible 273
would have made a good
chantey-man . . 340
Kitchener, Lord 234, 235, 269
Kit-inspection .... 192
Kling 74
Kloof 95
Knighthood, conferringof 156, 157
Koldeway, Professor . . 216
Koran ... 356, 321, 51
Kowhai 154
Kowloon 84
Kraal 259
Kruger, President Paul . 215,
. . . . . 237, 238
KuUah 18
Kurd 5S
Kurilies, The .... 84
Labour (masonic term)
Lager
Lake-folk
Lalun
Lama, Teshoo .
Lamberts
Lance-corporal .
Land League (Irish)
Land, Andrew
Lansdowne, Lord .
Lapps
Law, The (Buddhist)
Lawrence, Saint
Lawrence, Sir Henry
Laws of England .
Lay reader, A grim
Lay your board
I93>
187
152
161
64
II
240
184
86
. 196
19
342
. 224
■ 233
■ 49
348, 330
20
. 104
Layamon (early English
poet) . ... 279
Lead (nautical term) . . 335
Lectures on the Early History
of the Kingship . . loi
Lee-boarded luggers . . 207
Leeuwin, The . . . .236
Legate 346
Lessened count . . . . 338
Lettered doorways . . . 338
Level (masonic term) . . 186
Levin 200
Levuka 217
Leyland Line .... 169
Lice in clothing of troops . 258
Lichtenberg . ... 263
Lie down, my bold A.B. . 76
Lieutenant (army). Number
of men assigned to . 184
Life's Handicap . 6, 283
Lift (nautical term), noun 334
verb . . ... 165
Light that Failed, The 30, 98, 100,
. • . • ™ • • ■ -293
Lightning, The . . 168
Limber 39, 191
Limerick 138
Linch (Sussex) .... 278
Line, The 181
Liner 138
Lion's Head .... 98
Little Folk . . 296, 338, 339
78
321
149
67
i8s
40
278
Lloyd's, Money paid at
Lloyds
Loben (Lobengula)
Locking-ring
Lodge (masonic)
Lodge that we tile
Long Man of Wilmington
Looshai {see Lushai)
Loot
Lop (nautical term)
Loppage
Lord Warden (Hotel) . .
37
324
330
206
377
GENERAL INDEX
PAGE
Lost Legion 6
Lowe 68
Lower Hope .... 91
Lukannon 311
LuUington Church . . . 219
Lumsden, Sir Harry . 49> S^
Luna at her apogee . . 355
Lushai 31
Lyall, Sir Alfred Comyn 8, 19
Lyke-Wake Dirge ... 8i
Lytton, Lord (Viceroy of
India) 12
M' Andrew (on Mary Gloster) 170
Macassar Strait. . . . 170
Machan 356
MacRitchie, David (author
of Fians, Fairies, and
Picis) 297
Magna Carta . . . 349, 237
Mahdi, The 234
Mahrattas 18
at battleof Paniput59,6o,6i,62
Mainsail haul .... 74
Maiwand 182
Majuba, Battle of . . . 29
'Make it so' . . . . 75
Make-hawk 322
Malabar (troopship) . . 43
Malakand Garrison . 50
Malay Magic, by W. W. Skeat 3 19
Malays 207
Mallie 9
Malwa 53
Mangosteens . . .321
Manhood (Sussex) . . . 284
Manoeuvres, restrictions on,
in England . 246
Many Inventions 6, 7, 8, 17, 37,
. • . . 183, 32s, 3S8
origin of title . . . 171
Maple Leaf 99
Marabastad 268
Marching order . . . 177
Marigold 304
Marine, The bleached . . 75
Mark time 176
Marker 195
Marriage by capture . . 100
Married soldiers' allowances,
etc 41
Marris 6
Marryat (Captain), Poor Jack 323
The Phantom Ship . . 107
Martaban 162
Martini 42
Marwar 52
Mary Fortune, The . . . 337
Mary of the Toiaer,The . 337
Maryhill 112
Masai 147, 100
Mashonas 149
Masjid-al-aqsa .... 289
Massilian juice . 334
Master (masonic term) . 188
Master-mariner .... 167
Mastodon 162
Matabele .... 149, 214
Matka (matkie) . . 125, 133
Matopjpo Hills .... 214
May Day, Ancient obser-
vance on . . . .331
Maya 225
Men who could shoot and
ride 247
Merrow Down . . . . 313
Mess .... . . 44
Messageries Maritimes . 320
Mess-tin 38
Methodist, married or mad 181
Mewar 52
MidsummerEve.Dancingon 280
Minchin, Lieut. ... 50
Minden 182
Mirza Moorad Alee Beg (ori-
entalised Englishman) 59
Mithras 285, 286
Mlech 18, 60
378
GENERAL INDEX
Moab, The pride of . 250
Mogul emperors . 18, 19
Mohammedan profession of
faith 290
soul on way to Paradise 356
MoUy-mawk 103
Monday head .... 39
Money-market and war 248, 308
Mongoose, supposed im-
munity from snake-bite 327
Monkeys, Indian belief con-
cerning 82
Montreal .... 98
Mookerjee, HurreeChunder 6
Moon, Supposed evil in-
fluence of
Moonlighters
3SI
8S
361
106
141
91
Moravians
Mossel Bay .
Mother Carey
Mouse, The (lightship)
Mowgli 32s, 287, 288, 296, 307
Muir, Sir William ... 12
Muisenberg 153
Mukamuk . . . . . 311
Mulhar Rao, Origin of _. 61
flight from battle of Pani-
put 62
Musketoons 184
Musk-ox 83
Musth 8
Muttianee (Pass) . . . 209
Nag 327. 345
Naga . 31
Name, of God or divine
beings not uttered 5i> 343
ofsavage beast not uttered 342
of fairies not uttered 338
Napoleon Bonaparte . . 287
Narbo 297
Narrow Way, The ... 224
Natal ...... 121
(see also South Africa)
Native follower ... 35
Naulahka, The 26, 4, 15, 292, 355
Nautch-girl 53
Nemausus 346
Neolithic Dewponds and
Cattleways, by A. J. and
G.Hubbard ... 218
Neolithic period {see Stone Age)
Never-never country
New Troy Town
New Zealand
Newfoundland .
Next ahead .
'Nilghai,' The .
Nine point Two
Nippon Yusen Kaisha
Noble Eightfold Path, Th
Nord-deutscher Lloyd
Nordenfelt .
Norns ....
Norsemen in Sussex
North-east Trade .
Norther ....
Note of ships' engines
Nullahs . .
Number Nine
Nut . . .
Ocean Company .
0;er-sib ....
Oil-bags ....
Old English poetry
Om mane padme om
Onion Guards .
Ookiep
Open order .
Orang-Laut .
Orderly officer .
Orderly Room .
Orient Line .
Orlop ...
Orontes (troopship)
Osborn, E. B. .
Otway Dist. (Victoria)
21
213
280
99
99
338
100
301
320
224
320
76
243
27s
89
I, 107
108
184
112
35
169
87
166
359
227
179
268
42
74
194
33
319
24
43
151
153
379
GENERAL INDEX
Ouches 163
Oudtshoorn ranges . . 239
Outspan 258
Ovis Poli 208
Pacific Steam Navigation Co. 169
Pack — noun 201
verb 13s
Pack-drill .... 33
Packet 164
Paddy Doyle .... 104
Padre . .... 184
Painted eyes (on ships) 347
Pateolithic period (see Stone Age)
Palcharas 63
P. &0. Line . . . 169, 319
Paniput, Battle of . 59, 60, 61
Pannage 329
Paracelsus 354
Parkhead 112
Parnell, C. S. . . 84, 85, 86
Parsiwans 49
Passage hawk ... 322
Passing, The (death-bed ob-
servance) ... 81
Pathans . . . 29, 6, 32, 36
Pau Amma 319
Paul, St. . . . . 293
Pawl 141
Paying with the foresheet 142
Peacock Banner ... 67
Peers .... . . 350
Pelagian 118
Pelham family
Peliti's . . .
Pentecostal crew
Peshawur
Petrels . . .
Pevensey Castle
Pharisee (fairy)
Philadelphia
Phormio's fleet .
338
12
• 233
• SI
• 293
221, 338
• 339
361,353
333
PicardyspearSjTortureyour 348
Picaroon loi, 292
Picket 239
Picts 296
Pieter's Hill . . . .251
Pietersburg 240
Pigtails instead ofperukes . 352
Pilgrim's Way, The . . 313
Pindharees 60
Plague, at Uitvlugt . . 244
in England .... 306
Plain Tales from the Hills 7, 23, 59
82, 281, 290
Plewman's 268
Plough the Sands . . . 209
Plummet block .... 78
Pocock, Roger (author of
The Frontiersman) . 133
Poetry, Form of Old English 3 59
Pollokshaws ..... 112
Pompon .... 257, 265
Pontic Shore .... 297
Poop-lanterns . . .350, 166
Pop . .... 30
Port (arms) 175
Port Darwin . . . 260
Portmanteau words. Cock-
ney 2S3, 2S4
Poseidon 332
Praya . . . . 84, 98
Prayer-book, References to
the, Benedicite . . ii6
Psalm xvi . . 93, 217
Psalm cxv .... 117
Forms of prayer to be
used at sea. . . . 172
Predestination .... no
Priapus 294
Pribilof Islands . . . 311
Price, Cornell (Headmaster
of the United Service
College, Westward Ho) 302
Procrastitues .... 179
Profession of Faith, Mo-
hammedan .... 289
Proteus . , ^ . . . . 29s
380
GENERAL INDEX
Psyche ,2c
Pubbi "* 7
Puck of Book's Hill 216, 248, 274,
279? 286, 297, 316, 317, 339,358
Fudmini, Rajpoot queen . 65
Punt . ... 333
Pusat Tasek . . . 320
Push 255
Pye ...... . 158
Quagga's Poort . . 272
Quartermaster (military) 38
in merchant service . . 203
Quebec 99
Queen's chocolate boxes . 246
Quoins . . ... 216
Quoit (sikh weapon) . . 7
Race (of ship's propeller) no, 77
Rag-box . . 41
Rainbow, The . . 168
Rajpoots . . . . 6
armoury . ... 52
descent • • ■ S3
preparation for celestial
bridal 63
rite of 'johar' among . 65
Rajputana . ■ ■ • 53
Ram (of naval gun) . . 75
Ramazan . . 56
R.A.M.R.Infantillery Corps 271
Ram-you-dam-you-liner . 165
Rangoon 98
Ratas 154
Ratched 107
RatclifFe Road .... 76
Rattray, Lieut. . 50
Reay, Lord 19
Red Ensign 14S
Reddick, The . . . . 112
Red-eye . . ... 327
Reliques of Ancient English
Poetry 172
Reserve Army . . . 173, 262
PAGE
Ressaldar . ... 50
Reuben, Curse of . . . 45
Reveille 40
Revelly {see Reveille)
Rewards and Fairies 158, 216, 219
._ 220, 304, 341, 361
origm of title 172
Rhodanus . . . 346
Rhodes, Cecil . 213, 214
Rhythm of ships' engines 117
Rider (to troop) . . 45
Right about turn . 174
Right Divine . . . .350
Right flank rear . -35
Rikki-tikki-tavi . . 327, 344
Rimini .... 297
Ripon, Lord (Viceroy of India) 13
21
Roberts, Lord 21, 189, 215, 252
Robertus de Fluctibus. . 355
Robust and Brass-bound
Man, The . . 332
Rocket (herb) . 305
Rocket (signalling at sea) 119, 94
Rohillas ... 60
Roland, Song of . 137
Romans in Britain 296, 276, 283
.... 346
Rookies ... . 17s
Rose of the Sun . . 305
Rosicrucian subtleties . . 354
Rosie Crosse, Brethrenof the 354
Ross (rossignol) . . . 116
Rubattinos 320
Rue (herb) .... 305
Ruffles were turned into stiff
leather stocks . . 352
Runes ..... 358
Runnymede 237
Russell, Dr. W. H. . . 29
Rush, Dr. Benjamin . 361
Russian the language of the
seal-islands . . 312, 125
Rye 221
381
GENERAL INDEX
Sade, Marquis de . . . 87
Saffi . . • . ■ . ■ • • 242
Saffron robe, Significance of
the 60, 65
Sag (nautical term) . 77
Sahib Bahadur . . . 355
St. Paul (island in Bering
Sea) 311
Sal (tree) 283
Saltings 205
Salt-tax (Indian) 11, 12, 13, 21
Salue .... . . 151
'Salun the Beragun' . 59
Samadh . . ... 17
Sambhur .... 288, 327
Sarah Sands, The . . ill
Sarawak . . . 146
Sargasso weed . 202
Sauer, Dr. Hans 214
Saxon shore. Count of the 347
Sayyid Ahmed (Wahabi) . 289
Sayyid Burgash . . 149
Scale . . .118
Scalping . . . . 159
Scarp . ... 220
'Scends ... . . 89
Scindia (Mahratta chief) 63
Screw-guns ... 31
Scud 14s
Sea-catchie . . . . 126, 132
Sea-Dyaks ... 207
Sea-egg 83
Sea-forgotten walls . . 221
Sea-gate 204
Seal poachers ... 124
Seals, Habits of 133, 134, 126,311
Seamen's boarding-houses. 16
Sea-pull .... 130
Second Jungle Book 93, 198, 207,
. 209, 227, 287, 326
Sedna 311
Seedeeboy .... 148
Seize (nautical term) . 144
Seizin 156
PAGE
Selsey (Sussex) .... 220
Sept 248
Serapis (troopship) . . 43
Sergeant, Number of men
assigned to a . . . 184
Sestina, Definition of a . 171
Seven-ounce nuggets . . 147
Sewdasheo Chimnajee Bhao 60
61, 62
Sewdasheo Rao {see Sewdasheo
Chimnajee Bhao)
Shackle (of cable) . . . 127
Shadow, the visible, soul or
spirit of man . . . 343
Shaft (of propeller) . . 115
Shalimar 68
Shaman 309
Shaw Savill Line . . .320
Shaws 221
Sheba, Queen of . . . 321
Sheering gull .... 96
Sheers 216
Sheerstrake .... 130
Sheet (nautical term) . . 130
Shem, Tents of ... 88
Shere Khan . . . 307, 287
Sheristadar 9
Shield-hung hull . . 347
Ships, Sea Songs and Shanties 105
Shiva (Siva) . 187, 228, 284
Shoe-peg oats .... 72
Shout ( stand drinks') 41, 148
Shrapnel 190
'Shun 174
Shwe Dagon . . 98, 226
Side-arms . 189, 40
Sign that commands 'em 312
Sikhs 6, 49
Silent Trade, The . . 359-361
Simla 3, 10, 12
Simon's Town, Her that fell at 244
Sir Patrick Spens . . . 102
Siren .... 165, 91, 337
Siva {see Shiva)
382
GENERAL INDEX
PAG£
Sivaji 6i
Skeat, W. W. (author of Malay
Magic) . ... 319
Skerry 94
Sleek-barrelled swell before
storm 196
Slingers ... . . 177
Slings .... 106
Slip (engineering term) 118
Slops . . 175
Smiles, Samuel (author of
Self Help, etc.) . 242
Smokes of Spring . . . 207
Smoky Sea, The . . 125
Smooth, Watch for a . 323
Smuggling, Ethics of . 335, 336
use of churches for . 279
Snatch her .... 24
Snifter-rod .... 116
Social Hall . 169
Socks .... .36
Solomon . . . 103, 321
Solutre . 159
'Something Orion' . 259
Song of Roland 137
'Song of the Returning
Hunter'. 341
Soobah 64
South Africa 250, 121, 99, 95, 271,
272, 213, 215, 240, 24s, 250-272
South African Republic . 237
South Sea Islands . 147, 99
Southampton . . .331
county of 336
Southern Broom ... 99
Southern Cross . . . . 120
Sovereign, The . . -337
Spears John (author of
Master Mariners) . . 167
Spindrift 93
Spoor 208
Springs (Transvaal) . 252
I Squad . . . . . 194
Square (masonic term) 186
44
262
32s
302
139. 7S
118
34
49
92
341
75
Stables ...
Staff (military)
Stagnelius (Swedish poet)
Stalky and Co. .
Stanchion
'Stand by' bell
Star 'For Valour,' won by a
'bhisti' . ...
among men of the Guides
Start, The (signal station)
Stavanger
Stays
Stealer, The 138
Steaming to bell . . 115
Steel ships. First construc-
tion of 169
Steering-gear . . . . 335
Stepped (nautical term) . 24
Stern chaser .... 299
Steyn, General . . . 253
Stirp .... .98
Stone Age, Palaeolithic 158, 159
Neolithic 158, 159, 160
Neolithic in England 217, 276
. . . . 278, 341, 360
Stoop (veranda) . 167
Strachey, Sir John ... 12
Strake (nautical term) 78
Stripe . 188, 33, 28
Suakim . . . 29
Sudanese ... 30
Sumbawa Head . 113
Sun, Backing of wind against 130
Sun-born, The . . 53
Sun-dogs 130
Sungar ... . 56
Supi-yaw-lat, Queen of Burma 65
Sussex .216-221,274-277, 338
kingdom of 219, 284, 328, 331
Sussex steers . . . .221
Sutherland
. 240
Suttee . . .
• . 52
Swag . ...
. . 151
Swagger cane
• • 175
383
GENERAL INDEX
Swastika, The . . . 222
Swats 49
Sweep-head 24
Sweepstakes, The . . . 337
Swift (torpedo-boat destroyer) 201
Swig 35
Swin, The ... .96
Swing for .... 192
Swipes 188
Sword-wide bridge, The. . 356
Tabaqui ... 287, 327
Taboo of names of fairies 338
of dreaded animals
of divine beings
TaiBmai Metallumai
Tail (property)
Tailor-bird
SI
342
343
316
. is6
• 344
361
• 143
• 334
• 99
IS4
13
. 116
. 279
. 248
106
S3, iS5
Talleyrand
Tally on .
Tarshish .
Tasman, Able
Taupo, Lake
Temple, Sir Richard
Tender (to ship)
Tenderden (Kent)
Teraphs .
Texel
Thakur
Thalamite 333
Thane . . . 348
Theebaw, King of Burma 65
Theft and the track of kine 330
Their lawful occasions (origin
of title) ... 172
Thermantidote . . 10, 24
'Thirteen-two' .... 10
Thomas of Erceldoune . 155
Thranite 333
Thrash {see Thresh)
Three-reef gale . . . 341
Thresh, Thrash 145, 77, 166, 207
Thresher (shark) ... 75
Threshold spells . . . 221
Tibetan drums. The thunder of 226
Ticky 173
Tiercel 322
Tilt (of ships' engines) . 117
Timaru 260
Times, The 84
Tin Gods on the Mountain
Side 4
Tirings 322
ToA's Annals of Raj asthan . 62
Tolindos . . ... 343
Tolstoi Mees .... 131
Tolstoy, Leo .... 87
Tonga 356, 17
Tonk S3
Top-men 25
Topping-lift 129
Torpedo-boat destroyer . 200
Totem 160
'Touch and remit' ... 93
Touch, necessity of keep-
ing ... in ranks . 176
Trades, The 197
Traffics and Discoveries 6, 216, 255,
267, 27s, 288, 325, 328, 358
origin of title
Traill, Henry Duff.
Trails
Tramp (steamer)
Trapesings
Trees (nautical term)
Trek
Treyford (Sussex) .
Trichies .
Trick (nautical term)
Trim (of a ship)
Trip hammer
Triple Crown, The .
Troll
Truck ....
Truleigh (Sussex) .
Tryon, Admiral .
Try-pit ....
Tubal-cain
209,
171
161
iSi
88
288
191
136
278
188
341
170
118
28s
IS9
107
278
180
117
300
384
GENERAL INDEX
Tulsi (plant)
Tulwar
Tununirmiut
Tups .
Turcomans
Two-reef sailing
292
68
341
86
49
324
Typhoid epidemic at Bloem-
fontein 244
Tyr (the god) . 343, 342, 344
Tyre 326
Udaipur .... . 4
Uitvlugt, Them that died at 244
Ulwar . . ... 52
Under the Deodars . . . 185
Union-Castle Line . . . 320
Union Steamship Co. . . 169
Upsaras 62
U.S.A. . . . . 167, 353
conclusion of peace with
Spain 229
Venezuela Boundary Dis-
pute .... 98, 232
Usbeg 56. 58
Ushant Ill
Valley Forge . . . 352
Van Dieman, Anthony . 99
Vane .107
Vauban (military engineer) 5
Vectis ... . 346
Veering of wind . . 131
Veldt-sores ... 254
Venezuela Boundary Dis-
pute 98, 232
Vereeniging . . . 252
Vervain 3°5
Via Aurelia . . . . .297
Victoria (flagship) . . 180
Victoria, Queen . 13, 14, 18, 38
Vincent, St., Motto of . . 243
WiTgiVs Aeneid .... 232
Georgics 295
'Virginny' 298
Visiting rounds
Voe
Voorloopers
Voortrekker .
V. P. P.
Wahabis
Wall, the (Hadrian's)
Wallaby track .
Walter, Captain Sir
ward
Walty ....
War and money market
Warp
Warrigal
Wash along the side .
Watch . . .
Waterval ....
Wattle
Wattle Bloom .
Waxen Heath
Way, The (Buddhist)
• 19s
• 94
. 262
152, 301
. 66
289, 7
286, 346
146
Ed-
. 48
• los
248, 308
204, 90
• 94
337
164
26s
263
99
99
224, 283
204,
Wayiand Smith {see Weland)
Wayside magic .... 221
Weald, The 219, 274, 275, 328
Wedding festivities (Indian) 13
Wee Willie Winkie . . . 6
Weland . . . . . .359
Wellcome Tropical Research
Laboratory . . .235
Wellington, Duke of . . 26
Welsh Fusiliers, Royal . . 352
West Indies . • ■ 99
Westland, Sir James . . 19
Westward Ho (United Ser-
vice College) . . 302, 303
Whall, W. B. (author of
Ships, Sea Songs and
Shanties) . . . 105, 340
Wheel (of ship) . . 79. 335
Whins .126
Whipping up and leading
down 210
White, Sir George . . . 215
38s
GENERAL INDEX
White horses . . 198, 202, 203
White Man's country . 212
White Star Line . . . 320
White water .... 198
Whitehawk Hill (Sussex) . 217
Who's there? . . 195, 176
Widdershins . . 131
Widow 38, 40
Wilfrid, St. 219, 220, 284, 323
328
220
19
221
Wilmington, Long Man of
Wilson, Sir Alexander .
Winchelsea
Winddoor Hill 219, 220, 278
Winds, Scientific mapping of 123
Windy town. The .
Wireless telegraph
Witan, The .
Woking
Wolf-reared children
Wolseley, Lord .
Wolverine
19.
IS4
3S3
328
170
32s
190
9S
PAGE
Wolves, Division of labour
among 288
Women's side . . .344
Wondrous names of God . 51
Wood, Sir Evelyn . . . 230
Wrecks, said not to reach
bottom of ocean . . 96
Wynberg i?:!
Yahoo 72
Yarak, in 323
Yoginis 63
Yokohama pirates. The . . 125
Yoshiwara girls . . . . 131
Yusufzai . . . . SS» 49
Zam Zammah .... 61
Zenanas 15
Zinnendorf, Count . . . 361
Zodiac, Signs of the . 312
Zuka Kheyl . . .56, 68, 358
Zuleika 164
Zulus 30
386
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