Sullivan letter diary, 27 October 1915-9 October 1917 / Eugene Sullivan - Page 76
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[Page 76]
commenting loudly on the merits and demerits of our needy horse, never imagining that he could speak a word of English. Judge of our surprise on alighting to find that he spoke it quite fluently especially when pressing for an exorbitant fare.Three of us nearly killed one poor chap whom we made labour up a steep grade with our combined weight of about 33 stone.
The native police, who are also Zulus, have the same splendid physique as the Rickshaw men. Of course none of the natives wear shoes or socks and are bare to the knee. The police wear short black knickers and coats and small forage caps which do not pretend to fit them but which are held on the side of their black wooly heads by a chin strap. They are armed with waddies, like knobbed walking sticks, and wear a pair of handcuffs at their belt.
Most white men seem to have their black boys and in all the business establishments there are coloured attendants. In the big hotels they are dressed in livery - those I saw in white with a red sash - and look very picturesque. These blacks are miles above the Australian Aboriginal. They do not endeavour to ape the white man but are content with their own native customs and I am told only remain in town for a month on end when they return to their native kraals in the Country. The black police, I am told, cannot