THE PEOPLE OF THE EAST COAST
I have eaten your rice and salt.
I have drunk the milk of your kine,
The deaths ye died I have watched beside,
And the lives that ye lived were mine.
Is there aught that I did not share,
In vigil, or toil, or ease,
One joy or woe that I did not know,
Dear hearts beyond the seas?KIPLING (adapted).Although the States on the East Coast lie in very close proximity one with
another, the people who inhabit them differ widely among themselves, not only
in appearance, in costume, and in the dialects which they speak, but also in
manners, customs, and character. The Pahang Malay, in his unregenerate state,
thinks chiefly of deeds of arms, illicit love intrigues, and the sports which his
religion holds to be sinful. He is a cock-fighter, a gambler, and a brawler; he has
an overweening opinion of himself, his country, and his race; he is at once
ignorant, irreligious, and unintellectual; and his arrogance has passed into a
proverb.[5] He has many good qualities also, and is, above all things, manly and
reckless,—as those who know him well, and love him, can bear witness,—but
his faults are very much on the surface, and he is at no pains to hide them, being
proud rather than ashamed of the reputation which they cause him to bear. He is
more gracefully built than are most other natives on the East Coast, he dresses
within an inch of his life, and often carries the best part of his property on his
back and about his person,—for, like all gamblers, he is hopelessly improvident.
He is a sportsman as soon as he can walk upon his feet without the aid of the
supporting âdan;[6] he is in love as a permanent arrangement, and will go to any
length, and run any risk, in order to satisfy his desires; and, as he is exceedingly
touchy, and quick to take offence, he frequently seems to be in the condition
which is known as 'spoiling for a fight.' He is apt to 'buck' about the brave deeds
of himself and his countrymen, in an untamed way which would discredit the