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sixpence. But a passenger with luggage is content to pay an additional half bishlik, and the arabyeh is only warranted to carry one or two packages. As I had a fair, though by no means an excessive, amount of baggage, I had thought it advisable to secure two conveyances, and I started for the quay in the first with a single portmanteau, leaving my little Syrian landlady, who was very anxious to see me off, to follow in the second with the rest of my belongings. Unfortunately the two drivers, aware that they had to deal with a stranger, had evidently conspired beforehand to demand seven bishliks apiece, and in default to "raise hell"-in other words, to collect a crowd of the truly awful villains who herded on the sea-shore, and might be warranted So to abuse, hustle, and possibly assault the intending traveller that he would be only too ready to compound with the contents of his purse for immunity of life and limb. When, therefore, my portmanteau and I had been duly deposited on the quay, and I offered the driver a bishlik and a half, he rudely demanded seven bishliks, and on my declining to assent to the imposition began to shout, or rather scream, by way of rallying to his assistance all "true believers." In an instant I found myself the centre of a crowd of as evillooking scoundrels as the vilest slum of either London Birmingham might be expected to produce, and matters looked distinctly ominous.

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Another instant and the crowd had dispersed almost as rapidly as it had assembled, and I was alone on the pavement with the arabyeh driver and—Omar, who had apparently dropped from the clouds, and looked, as indeed he invariably did, as spruce as if he had just been turned out of a bandbox, and perfectly cool and collected.

"That your arabyeh?" he inquired, accosting me as if I were a perfect stranger. "Yes, Omar."

"How much you give that man?"

"I offered him a bishlik and a half, and he wanted seven.'

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"Give him now a bishlik and a half," and then, as the driver's hand closed on the coin, "and I give him this."

All I can say is, that if the pain of the crack that fell on the knave's back could in any way be gauged by the sound, there was no manner of doubt that full representative value had been received for those extra bishliks. The fellow waited for no more. With a loud yell he leapt into the driving-seat, and whipping up his horses galloped down the road for dear life. As the second arabyeh in due course hove into sight Omar modestly retired into the background, as though anxious to see how I would handle the position by myself. I made the same tender as before, only to be encountered by the same rude demand for seven bishliks. But the yell prepared for my brief refusal died away on the man's lips as he caught sight of Omar quietly advaneing

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and fingering his whip. most snatching the coins out of my hand, the fellow sprang to his seat and levanted. After this experience I wisely concluded to leave the further arrangements for my exit in Omar's able hands. It was he who quieted some suggestions on the part of the custom house that they would like either to open my portmanteau or receive some backsheesh; who engaged my boat for me, and fixed the payment of each of the four rowers at one bishlik, and when were finally on board the ship he at once impressed two sailors into my service and saw that all my belongings were stowed away into the most convenient places. After that he took a cup of coffee with the captain, smoked a cigarette with the steward, and generally played the part of a welcome and highly favoured guest. When one of the ship's boats had been made ready to take him back to shore, I shook hands with him and presented him with a medjidi, thanking him warmly for his services.

"Ah!" he said, "you come back to Beyrout some day, and I will meet you."

Alas, poor Omar! this is never to be. I began this paper by asserting that were I compelled to change personalities with any man of my acquaintance, that man would be Omar, the policeman of Beyrout, thinking of him as a man who gained the respect of all that encountered him, and did good work "in the niche he was ordained to fill." And

something more than that. A Conservative on most points, I must plead guilty to being Radical enough to believe with Ovid that "it is not wealth nor ancestry, but honourable conduct and a noble disposition, that make men great." Starting at the bottom of the tree, this Omar, with the aid of a strong arm, stronger character, and a reputation for fearlessness, having forced his way to the top, and attained a high position in a mixed community, had constituted himself a ruling power in the city, and had the good word of every honest and law-abiding resident. Trusted and respected by the better classes, he was equally respected though feared by the canaille, and his shrewd common-sense enabled him to use the laws, of which, as I have shown, he was at once servant and interpreter, for the benefit of society at large. If some of his methods would have been open to criticism in an English court of justice, he had the happy knack of so adjusting himself to circumstances that his decisions gave almost unmixed satisfaction.

Add to this a magnificent physique, a constitution that seemed to defy all the assaults of the naturally trying climate and the artificial impurities of Beyrout, and it is difficult indeed to think of a more fitting object whether of envy or admiration.

But alas, again, for Omar! News travels slowly from Beyrout, and I had practically completed this paper when an

Englishman whom I knew well in the East came almost direct from Beyrout to stay with me, and told me that Omar was the only person of note killed by the Italian bombardment. While most of the inhabitants of the town wisely shut themselves up indoors, or sought refuge in the hills, it appears that Omar had strolled down to the seashore, partly, no doubt, to show his contempt for and have his say at the Italian ships in the offing, more, perhaps, with the idea of reassuring the frightened population, or even to organise a resistance in the event of an Italian landing. But why analyse motives when the result of his rash action only remains? Early in the bombardment he was literally cut in half by a shell, and the Italians reaped by the wanton bombardment of a practically

defenceless town the barren joy of having killed the best man in it. Omar died, as I believe he would have chosen to die, at the hands of his country's enemies, a rapid and painless death in the execution of what he conceived to be his duty, and setting an example of fearlessness to those around him. "Let my last end be like his," most of us might well say. I am afraid that in his case religious conviction was not deeply rooted. "I do not know," he was heard to say, "whether there be a God at all, but if there is, I am sure He must be an Englishman.' A remarkable tribute to our country from a man who seemed to recognise that in a very mixed and I fear me very evil community, the Englishmen played the game of life with a straighter bat than their neighbours!

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WITH THE ABOR EXPEDITIONARY FORCE.

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IN the beginning of the year 1911 a curious state of affairs existed within striking distance of Sadiya, in Assam, the extreme north-east frontier station of British India, situated on the right bank of the Brahmaputra, some fifty miles to the north-east of the pleasant little cantonment of Dibrugarh, with its hospitable community and wealth of prosperous tea gardens. Sadiya formed the base of a chain of outposts stretching towards the north and east, and, with detachments of native infantry and military police, was the headquarters of a political officer whose duty it was to exercise his influence over and to keep in touch with the hill tribes. Dibrugarh itself was the headquarters of the 114th Mahrattas and the Lakhimpur military police battalion, while a very efficient volunteer corps, the Assam Valley Light Horse, attracted planters from miles round into its ranks. Yet on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, between Sadiya and Dibrugarh, lay a sparsely populated region within the administered area, containing a few villages of a tribe called the Miris, where no Europeans were allowed to go, and where the Miris, British subjects, moved in fear of their lives. Occasionally the river near Sadiya and Dibrugarh would be alive with craft manned by terrified Miris seeking sanctuary. What was the cause

VOL. CXCII.-NO. MCLXIII.

of this apparently undignified figure that the Government of India was cutting? The answer was-A savage tribe of hillmen called Abors were dominating the plains. But could it be that a horde of naked savages was defying the British Raj with impunity? Yet so it was, and the history of our former relations with this tribe is neither instructive nor edifying, unfolding as it does a tale of ineffectual pursuits of raiders, of hasty withdrawals from apparently inaccessible and difficult country, of treaties made and broken by the Abors, of threats of punishment not carried out, of money allowances given to secure good behaviour, which was seldom or never indulged in, of grants to the tribesmen to carry out their own policing, resembling the policy of intrusting to the cat the safety of the cream, and of shifts undertaken to stave off the necessity of launching a large punitive force into an inhospitable and unknown region. So the years rolled on, and secure in their mountain fastnesses the Abors overawed the plains, increased in arrogance, raided and bullied British subjects.

In 1894 the murder of some military police sepoys led to the despatch of a punitive expedition of five hundred rifles into the Padam Abor country, but the force failed, through lack of transport, to

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reach Damroh, the metropolis of the clan, and sustained considerable casualties at a post on the lines of communication. Since this time the allowance paid to the Abors for good behaviour has been discontinued. In 1909, the affairs of the north-eastern border of Assam were in the hands of a purposeful and energetic assistant political officer called Noel Williamson. Originally in the Indian Police, a service which together with the Army probably produces the type of man best suited to deal with wild tribes, he was possessed of a commanding presence and a fearless nature.

Early in 1909, for the purpose of establishing more satisfactory relations with the Abors, he visited, in company with Colonel Lumsden (late of Lumsden's Horse) and the Rev. W. L. B. Jackman of the American Mission, the village of Kebang, which at that time was the seat of the most powerful clan of the Minyong Abors. He was accorded a friendly reception, but was turned back on account of an inter - tribal war then being waged. In March 1911, accompanied by Doctor Gregorson and about fifty carriers, he again made an expedition into the Minyong country, hoping that through the previous friendly relations a more satisfactory modus vivendi might be established between the Abors and the dwellers in the plains. With the exception of six survivors, all this party was treacherously murdered by the Abors. Such wanton savagery could not be

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tolerated, and the Indian Government, stirred into energy, decided on the despatch of a punitive expedition to Aborland. A military police post was at once established at Balek in the Pasi Abor country to facilitate the advance of the force, but the season was unpropitious, and it was not until October 10 that the concentration of the Abor Expeditionary Force at Kobo the Brahmaputra took place. After breaking down the opposition of the tribe, deavours were to be made to clear up the mystery of the course of the Dihang, the main feeder of the Brahmaputra. Information on this point had hitherto only been derived from the reports of Kintup, an employé of the Government of India, who many years ago passed through numberless vicissitudes to accomplish his end. Sold into slavery by a Tibetan Lama whom he had trusted, he effected his escape, bringing back an account of his journeyings.

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Simultaneously with the advance of the Abor Expedition, missions were to despatched to the Mishmi and Miri tribes, while from Burma an exploration party accompanied by an escort was working north-east to Hkamtilong, in hitherto unexplored country. It is, however, only with the Abor Expedition that we can deal. It was a well-equipped and well-organised little force which took the field in October, consisting of the Lakhimpur Battalion (Gurkhas) of Military Police; the 1st Battalion 8th Gurkha Rifles, who had taken

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