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at the pay table if paying off occurs on board the steamer. What the men do with their earnings after they receive it is entirely their own affair, notwithstanding the impervious customs of the East, which no government can get over or suppress. There is no connivance except by the men concerned, and, if it is so, then it 1s custom, as much as it is iniquitous. We are inclined to the opinion, if it obtains at all, that it is very trifling, as the men are much too keen on their beloved pice to allow themselves to be duped, even by the man who selects them for engagement. The Lascar is not one whit behind his European brother in knowing exactly what he is allowed and entitled to, while his thrift would make the average Jew turn green with envy at the lessons to be learned from him. With such a strong regard for their earnings, the fear of punishment, inflicted by small fines, is an undoubted incentive to their good behaviour, for if it is necessary to bring one of them up with a round turn for any flagrant breach of the ordinary regulations that obtain, one has only to threaten to cut their pay to be sure the offender will amend his manner, and fall into line with their general all round behaviour. To their credit, be it said, instances rarely occur, and when it does it invariably ends with the inevitable, "Sahib, you are my father and my mother!" Take them all round they are handled under ordinary circumstances as easily as children, their wants are small, they are easily satisfied, and, given a fair share of attention, are positively contented.
The system makes for this, as each group of men has a cook allotted to them whose business is entirely devoted to the preparation and cooking of the food for the men they are concerned with. The rations they are allowed by the ordinar} scale of provisions provided on the agreement is really more than they can actually consume, unless an unusual lot of gluttons should be shipped at any time. This is easily proved. by the way they manage to save up large quantities of their food stuffs to sell over the side in port, or to take on shore with them if they were allowed to do so. The cooking is, perhaps, not quite of the high class order, but it is of their own particular mode, method, and requirements. They draw their rations and cook to suit themselves; the serang provides the cook for engagement as he does the others. It is very rare indeed to have a complaint about food at any time, as it is entirely in their own hands. Nearly all steamship work is of the order that must be described as dirty, hence the incessant cleaning that goes on. There are some parts of it dirtier still, and in Lascar crews there will be found men of the
